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MONTHLY SOFTWARE REVIEW FO

4MST#?>lDcOMPUTE^S

DROOL OVER

WHO DARES WINS II

SPELLBOUND

PING PONG \ , A

SPIN DIZZY

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AMSTRAD

YIE AR KUNG FU

H you con master the ten moves, expect the unexpected and FIGHT
for your LIFE against the formidable masters of the martial arts you
may live to meet ihem again on the mountain or in the Temple,

COMIC BAKERY

*fbnic in the bake- shop

"Fast and furious arcade fun.

■*Hetp Joe the baker defend his loaves from the rascally raccoons.

'Another red-hot Konami cook re!

MIKIE

Mik*e plays a knockout frantic farce in the classroom, locker room
and the high school cafeteria, Hip-zap r door attack, throw balls and

jML$psm

*'J

Imagine Software ( >984f r 6 Central Street
Manchester M2 5NS Tel: 061-834 3939. Telex: 66997

(

lies, of fun

PING PONG

You can almost fee! the tension of the big match breaking through the
screen, .the expectant crowd is almost on top of you! You return the
service with o top spin backhand, then o forward back-spin, the ball
bounces high from your opponent's looping; defensive
lob. -SMASH L. a great shot opens the score... but this is only your first
point! Play head to head or against the computer in this, Konami's
first and best table- tennis simulation.

HYPER SPORTS

Enter the stadium of Konami's No, 1 arcade smosh*hit sports Simula*
t ion. From the finesse and skill of Archery and Skeet Shooting to the
critical timing and brute force of werght lifting - six events to test you
to your limit. Hyper Sports - continuing the challenge where 'Track
and Field' left off. \

only.

Imagine Software is \JiirY

available from selected branches of "

rfh.WHSM 1 1 1 ! fm-ryif-i wnntmmmi \ askys Rumbc l ows. G re e ne Spectr u m Shop s and al l good d e al ers .

LUCASFILM GAMES
PRESENTS

■.

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I ^ VI

^^^rfl H

I ' *

% *
* %
% %

'- A

TIViSIOH

[HOME COMPUTER SOFTWARE j

AVAILABLE ON ATARI CASSETTE |C9.99>4 DISK (£14.99), COMMODORE 64 CASSETTE <C9 99) * DISK (C14.99).
SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM CASSETTE (£7 89) AND AMSTRAD CASSETTE (£9 99)

FtQui latflCMd bfinsft^i •

. 1, 11 '■ 1 i i i ^ili»

- fcJMiien Hcmtw C«i*w** 5o#*» TIT it 1 **(><« *a Mdsnwfc tf Actemn, ft*

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Publishing

Executive

Roger Kesri

Editor* Jeremy Spender.

Malcolm Harding

Technical Editor Franco Frey

Ait Edfl of Oliver Frey

Product km designer Richard

Shiner

Production Controller David

WfrBlGfTI

Advent u re/ Strategy Editor

Sim Meetereon
Amtipe Editor Robin Candy
Software Rwwwi Gary
bddon. Juhan RiqnalL Mark
Peiers. Catherine Hees,
Domini Handy
Contnbi_rtin<j WiilerS
Graeme Kidd. Chris Honey,
Rov Jones, Ben Stone
Production Matthew
Uffindeli. Gordon Druoe,
TonyL»*tori
Advertisement Manager
Roger Bennett
Subscriptions Denise
Roberts
Mail Of der Carol Kmsey

Pyfcf.c*T Kwn» Ltd

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Cover by Oliver Frey

TOP GAMES MARCH

USPINQIZZY

Working foi the Corporation is a real dreg
especially if you are a Trainee Assistant
Cartographer for Unknown Worlds

20 WHO DARES WINS 1 1
GFancy taking on the role of a sole commando
trying lo capture eight enemy command post*
while armed with fust a maehmegun and a few
hand grenades? The battle starts berr

12 SPELLBOUND

The Magic Knight continues his adventures and
tries to pot right a b.wi spell cast by Gimbal the
Wizard

PING PONG

The highly competitive world of table tennis
comes under analysis as we examine the latest
[from Imagine

MARCH SI

99 AMTIX I

Our new Editor. Malcolm Harding; arrives with his
briefcase and a new idee, a regular feature on user
clubs end bulletin board users in this issue he
takes a took at a user dub m Manchester

PREVIEWS

A quick at some Of the games which should be on

the Streets in the not too distant future

AMTIX I COMPETITIONS

40 THINGS COMPETITION

Gel your thinking caps on and design a deadly
elastic band weapon Corn pilet ion games from
Design Design for the winners

70 HOLOGRAM UP FOR GRABS

Imagine you are a Hobo it from LOAD OF THE
RINGS suddenly transported into the 20th
Century. Your chance to win a hologram
court yesy of Melbourne House

72 TIME FOR REVENGE
Your chance to win an Obsidian sweatshirt .All
you have to do is help the Apprentice Comps
Minion get revenge on Big J

ISSUE NO 5 MARCH 1986

THE MAIN HEADINGS

7 EDITORIAL

9 LETTERS

More views and opinions are tossed into the
mtttino pot and receive steely comments from
the OTS team

45AMTECH

CPM Jones continues his enemtnstfron of Public
Domain business software, news of the Vortex
expansion board and improved AMX mouse
software Also details about Laserbastc and more
news on educational games

55LETTERTECH

Got a technical problem and need some advice or
sympathy ?Then drop a line to Lettertech . .

61 ADVENTURE

Vet another new feature appears . , , a hints
section for adventurers known as AMTOC I
ARCANA and time's also a map of ZOHK

T3AMTIPS

Robin Candy turns his cartographic attention to
CAULDRON and offers lipa.hUits and the odd
cheat on a host of games

k turns

The daring AMTIX - team risk Me and limb and
travel down to London to look at the Armtr ad
Users Show at the Novotel In addition there's
details of what is happening soon

95 STRATEGY

Loads of contrast this month as the man delves
int o a footbal I strategy game and a science fiction
trading game Michael J am pel reviews a book
felling you how to create political and military
simulations

98 WINNERS/RESULTS

We r e w e J r i he names of the prizew inner* from
com pen t ions in Issue Two

100 CHAfiT Ml SCORES

You r chart . your scores, your pr iies . our blurb )

101 TERMINAL MAN

Continuing the adventures of the hardware hero

Qont' mis* the next issue of AMTIX l on tale from
the 20th March'

AMTIX March 1986 5

OFFICIAL COMPUTER GAME
OF THE BOX-OFFICE No.l
SMASH HIT. TAKE THE ROLE
OF SYLVESTER STALLONE IN
ALL THE ACTION-PACKED

BATTLE SCENES.

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SPECTRUM 4SK ^

COWMODOflf 44 ft AMfl*M>

8*95

^j^y^i^

Oce» House 6 Central Street Manchester M2SNS Telephone 061 8J2 6634 Tete* 669977
Ocean Software a n«bbte from setected branches or jflg . WHSM1 1 1 1 r ^23E^5! WOOLWORTH LASKYS Rumbelowt.

Spectrum Shops and ail good software dealers. Trade enquiries welcome

.1- i fm

WELCOME MALCOLM

The first task is to welcome a
new add i non to the AMTJX !
team Malcolm Harding has
lOirMXl as Editor Roger Kean. the
founding Editor, now becomes
our publishing executive
Malcolm's talents as a
professional word surgeon,
combined with his enthusiasm
for Amstr ad computers, will
make him a valuable member of
the (earn. Writ's mors, Malcolm
hails from the bright lights and
wild I lit; of OswRftiry, a son of
Shropshire mi ni-ciiy. in Ludlow
terms an Oswesf nan is
positively cosmopolitan,
especially after a daily round trip
of 96 miles, so he should help
broaden our horizons a Jittie.

n mm MaieofrrVs idea to
establish 3 Club page, seen for
the first time m {his issue The
page fits m with AMTIX ■ which
sees itself, not as an instruction
manual, but as a vehicle for
Amstrad enthusiasts. Eventually
we hope the c tub page will be a
rallying point and unite the
number of small Amstrad Clubs
and bring people and their ideas
doser together — collective
creativity. The 'official* Amstrad
user club is more of a
commercial enterprise than a
club It has failed to tap and
exploit the undoubted energy
and enthusiasm of its many
members. Now that Amstrad
have sold The dub — and its
members — to another
company, this situation is
unlikley to change, ft is all very
well being able To offer your
members discounts on
products, but what they realty
want is an opportunity to
explore the fascinating world of
computers in the company of
others — and not just become
passive consumers. If you are
interested in staning a dub, or if
you already run one, then pli
get in touch with us.

APOLOGIES

Firebird were stunned that their
game, £ ftre, didn't get an
aocotede — and so were wt ft
should have had one. and so
should Gargoyle's Sweevo's
World If you take a careful took
again at the pages you will see
that the space was left for the
Accolades to go in, How can this
happen? Apparently those
pages suffered from a technical
problem known as NEG (not
enough gluo) resulting in the
accolades falling off the artwork
while it was m transit to London
These things happen.

Another apology is owed to
US Gotd/Epy*) Gary Uddon
wrote the review of Electric
Dreams 4 Wtnter Sports but hts
confused mind kept referring to
it as Winter Games t Ihe

B remised htocfcbusfftf from the
IS Gotd/Epyx stable US Gold/
Epy* have had a spot of trouble
with ihis name before: well, you
don't have to be a Liddon to be
confused by it Understandably
they were anxious we should
put the record straight,
especially since Wtnter Games
has yet to be released on the
Amstrad.

AND A MOAN OF OUR OWN.

The number of Amstrad owners
subscribing to Presiel services,
like Amsnet and Micronel, is
growing rapid ty. The Amstrad
<s, as expected, proving to be a
useful machine for those
interested in computer
communications. One of the
Amstr ad" s strengths has been
its appeal to people who have
never used computers before,
ttiey may only be interested in it
as a games machine or as a
communications terminal —
tasks for which specialist
computer knowledge should not
be required.

You may not need to be a
computer expert to enjoy
services like Telecom Gold or
Presiel but a good analytical
and legal mind is essential Most
of the confusion surrounds
companies who are trying to
market modems and software
which has not received BABT
approval — TeJecom/s approval
board. You see, without their
say so you cannot connect a
modem onto their phone line,
just In case it isn't safe. Sounds
reasonable But what is far from
reasonable is the time it takes
and the money it costs for such
approval. It can take months to
get clearance, and cost
thousands of pounds to pay for
the testing When a company

has developed a product ttiey
need to put it on the market
quickly to start recovering the
development costs, but while
they wait for BABT they are
losing thousands in tales,

To make matters worse the
rules governing approval are
incredibly petty. Changing a
simple component, say an LED
light on The from panel, from
one type to another, can mean
the modem is no longer
approved, To make matters
worse no one in the industry
seems terribly Sure that 81 still
have the legal right to enforce
their petty and costly ruies„ now
that they have been privatised

The present approvals system
makes entry into the modem
market for potential
manufacturers, very costly.
Some don't survive At this
moment the inexpensive, full
function MagiC Modem is being
delayed by BABT. Not because it
failed the tests, but because it
just hasn't been given the go
ahead. This stupidity confuses
the customers and increases the
costs. Why can't Telecom see
the benefit to be gained from
encouraging the spread of
computer communications
Ultimately, it is not in their
interests to make life more
difficult for the rest of us.

REVEWED IN THIS ISSUE

Castle Assault Blue Ribbon 25

Contraption Icon 29

Creator Public Domain 50

Honey View Honeysoft 45

Hypersports Imagine 23

Later Basic Ocean 43
Lord ofthsfttfigs

Melbourne House 61

Obsidian Artie 14

ngpong Imagine 34
Play Your Cards Right

Br 1 1 ta ma 37

Ptanstfall Infocom 62

Reporter Pub! ic Domai n 50

Wl Public Domam Si

Screwball Blue Ribbon IS

SeastaVker I n f acorn 94

S k yf o x Ar i a lasoft 28

Spel Ibound Mastert rort ics 32

Spindizzy Aclj vision IB

Think Anolasofl 38

Tuharuba Advance 18

VDO 25 Pu blic Doma in S 1
Who Dares Wins 2

Alhgeta 30

Your Health Hi Soft 47

Zania Myrrdin Software 28

ADVERTISERS'
INDEX

A L Beech 47

ActfvisKin 4,57

Amtix Binders

back numbers 71

Ami I* ma it order 7S

Amt ix subs offer 80

Argus Press 42,43

Anotasoff 87

Celcom 9

Database 36

Durrelf Hi* .m

Euromax ?7

Hi Soft SI

Imagine 2,3,44,94

Incentive 13

Level963

Melbourne House 66

Microgcn Back cover

Mi rr orsoft 8

Ocean b. 22 .30,3 1,49,75,1 0?

Odin 60

Palace 25

Rainbird 19

Romantic Robot 39

Siren 12

US Gold 15,58,59,107

THf MONTHLY

SOFTWARE

STAR FOR

YOUR US GOLD

CALENDAR

AMTfX March 1986 7

PRINS mo ACTION

rnnmuum

SPITFIRE 40

STRIKE FORCE HARRIER

i r' • ■

•GRIPPING STUFF! ' - Computet Gamer

'FLYING THE MiRRORSOFT SPITFIRE IS A JOY' -
Commodore User

'DEFINITELY THE BEST FLIGHT SIMULATOR ON
THE AMSTRAD' -Ar

Amstrad tape £9.95

Spectrum 4BKand 128K tapes £9.95 £12.95

Commodore 64 tape disk £9. 95 £12. 95

'A CLASSY, POLISHED, AND HIGHLY ADDICTIVE
SIMULATION ' - Computet* vtdeoGames

'POSSIBLY THE BEST GAME I HAVE COME
ACROSS SINCE ELI TE'-A&B Computing

'ONE THE FLYING ADDICTS WILL WANT TO ADD
TO THEIR COLLECTION'- Your Computer

BBC electron tape BBC disk £9. 95 £12. 95

Amstrad tape disk £9.95 £14.95

AHB IF YOU STIU mm MET. . .

DrMAMITEDAM

'A HIGHLY PLAYABLE, FUN, AND ADDICTIVE GAME "- Crash m% Smash)

THIS 1$ THE ONE PLA TFORM GAME THAT YOU MUST GET'-Ami*

'NOT JUST ANOTHER MINER SURROGATE AND
IS AT LEAST AS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR
COLLECTION " - Popular Computing Weekly

Spectrum ABU tape £6. 95
Amstrad CS4 tape £7. 95
Amstrad disk £12. 95 C64 disk £10. 95

Available from feeding software stockists everywhere
Mail order and catalogues from:

Purnell Book Centre. Paul ton, Bristol BS 18 510

;|;;;;l;;;;hi ;]|i; i:|;H;l;;nh;;f

Welcome Amstefs to the fifth m*ue of AWT IX? Th# po*tb#g

COrrtpnueS tO build Up tO the pQint where *Hjr postman i* com

pfainMig of * *tram«d buck The OT5 te«m d**m th* mount am of
mail ts intruding on thart tea breaks Anyway to make thwr tafik a
Itttkn bit easier pleat* ftmur* you address your letters m the correct
manner (see bottom of the column for guklance) and also make
certain any seriously technical letters or problems 90 to the
AMTECH heading Th» prevents the post sorters from blowing a
fuse If you have a technical letter you can enclose It with your GTS .
letter but please make sunt thay are on separate sheets, of paper.
Anyway on to the left et of the month .

TRANSFERRING TAPE TO
DISK

Dear AftmX!

First oh\ «n excellent mag/.
Whereas Amstrad Action is I ike
The Sun. AMDXI tails into the
GMgory of the Observer, as it
provides a bit of both worlds
(but noi loo much of either I.
Now fVe got 1 he crawling out of
the way iTi get down to serious

burimML

Re Dennis Trowbridge lenar in
taue No 3, As I own a ol 28 I
tofalry agree with him that it
should be possible 10 transfer
games on tape to disk Offer a ng
the program on disk is hefpful
but you and up paying extra
money for disks you 0W1 need,
I don'l mind if the disk version is
a couple of quid more but when
companies sta rt to tip ut off by
adding en extra fiver to the price
it then gets out of hand. What I
suggest is the following : On side
1 have a Cassette version that
won't transfer On the flip side
Nave a short program that
eHdws a disk copy to be made.
The program could protect the
disk game by messing about
with catalogue in the drift. After
this short copier program than
have the actual game , it cou kl be
saved as data blocks or the like
This idea wou id elimin eta the
need for disk versions and
should bring down the price, As
Mr Trowbridge said, pirates wilt
always find a way around
protection wructi then leave* the
amateurs like Mr Trowbridge

TIME TO SELECT A
MASCOT

DeerAMTfXi

Please tell rne if you've got a
mascot lined up for your great
magazine Since ZZAPi has that
menace Rockford, what have
you got for us Amstrad owners?
Why not have Roland from
those Amsoft games or even

and \ totally flue* Some bright
spark in {he industry is bound to
say ArVith ihat scheme you can
mafcs endless disk copies' , but
not rf vou have a code sheet
provided with the game (like the
Software projects muHv
coloured onesj. Come on
software houses, reply!

Lastly, re Derek Tatums letter
in Lettertech Serious Software
does sound tacky and pompous.
how about lit iluy Time" ?
Neil Scrimgeour , Corby,

Thank you tor the comparison
with the Ooeervet — does that
mean we can my boiled *g?t
anyway we like now }

W# think your idea H worthy
of discussion There are some
programs around that allow
themselves to be transferred to
dttk, 3D Vote* Chess being in
example That particular
software house made no
attempt to restrict the number
of disk copies that could be
made — either they weren't
worried, or thev didn't think rt
could be done . As far as amateur
pirates *r* concerned a wde
Sheet might foil them, but we
cant help wondering it the
technique is a viable deterrent .
why isn't It more widely used

nice to get some oamrnents

tfOfn the industry on hWfa idea
In the meantime the team has
I to aw a r d you the
I Letter of the Month

with rts sensational award of

£20 worth of software

OTS

Watty Week from Mikro-Gen? I
beg you. please, please, please,
please find a mascot or Rock ford
will think that he rules Che world
of computer mags
P Levers

Roc Morel, like the rest of the
ZZAP" crew, tends towards
swell headedness. Maybe yours
isn't such a bad idea — do we
hear any votes for Roland?
07S

IN PRAISE OF TAPE..,
AND GRAMMAR

Dear Sir,

I have just finished inwardly
digesting the J an 86 issue of
AMTIXI and have started
ordering it from my
newsagents. I enjoyed it as
usual but would like to comment
on a couple of items that
appeared in On The Spol

Firgt, Mr Trowbridge, he
makes reference to disk use with
the words/after all, tape is not
exactly the most reliable form of
storage/ and then goers on
dbouf the time taken for loading.
Okay, Mr Trowbridge is right
about the lime taken to load, but
whnn will pffoplrj like him get ii
right? Why, if tape is considered
so unreliable, do the large
mainframe machines still use
the large reel-to-reel units to
hold and feed data? What Mr
Trowbridge and like thinking

people should be saying is that
tape transfer avsioms based on
cassette CAN be unreltable,
although some people can use
the system tor years without
problems. I was taught that a
bad workman airways blames his
tools and wonder if this could be
the case or maybe it's that he
fust cannot use the tools!

Another point concerns a Mr
Lamb, who writes 'Recipe for
Success' Welt now, I'm not
quite his age although I am

Getting on somewhal plus I'm
isa bled Mr Lamb might have
been reading my mind when he
wrote his letter staling
rnagazi nes assume all readers
are in the class of super
wtHzzkidsfprograrnmers, call
them what you will . In general I
aoree wholeheartedly with him
when he says these youngsters
don't seem to be able to spell but
also fer?l they appear to have
little, if any, command of ihe
English language All those

AMSTRAD

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NOW IS THE TIME TO CALL IN AT:

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or tel: 061 -834 2808

AMTIX March 1986 9

WE ARE
HERE

* ■ +-» I ■

TIT* liKIdIrlii-i.il

«*t

: ;i

: i : : "i""|:,.j:»p4;,;4| < ->4U < Ml*i>i

: " :

brills, labs , and so on would
appear to prove this point. Mind
ycju some of the people who
write /edit and in general put
theso publications together
seem to be on * par with ihes4?
youngsters

MR Pugh\ Ashton-in-Maherfield,
Wigan

To be fair to Mr Trowbridge I
think his final point could be
summed up as disks are better
than tapes' Perhaps he did go
over the t op a little in
condemning tapes in quite the
way he dtd but even the Id

HOW DO I KEEP MUM

Dwamux*

I'm not goi ng to grovef Qn about
how good your mag is We All
know it i*. I'm going lo (el) you
what a pain my mum is
Whenever I'm playing on my
straddles she wants me to do
something or other When I
bought £xpfodtng fist I piayed
on it for hours then when M was
on the 9th Dan, guess what —
Yes, 'Come down hare and do ,
etc, 1 could have put her head m
the Christmas nutct ecfca? ,

Secondly, after playing,
Encounter. I had got to ?one
with one dustbin left, then my
mother burnt in, 'Washing up 1 ' I
panicked and 'mi What a
mother, but I do love her

fly the way, when you
launched AMT1X i a similar mag
had been launched too This

reel to reel tapes used by
massive institutions are being
pushed out in favour of large
and expensive hard disk packs
Also, its hardly a fair
comparison — cassettes have
never been particularly reliable,
whereas reel-to-reel tape decks
are invariably mem*
sophisticated (and much more
expensive) It may well be true
that bad workmen blame their
toots but do you know a good
workman who would put up
with bad tools

You should try reviewing all
the wonderful games that drop
into ou r off ices and see if you

introduced the Amstrad Index
and then you d«d it. Why ? Did
you Copy it Also could you ielt
me what a 'Schneider' It? ii tl
written on Melbourne!
(upto&fig ffSt.
MarkDavies

Wave all got mums and they
can certainly be problems ai
times Here's i good way round
the lady in question Get lets of
lovely gimn reedy to be
loaded Pick a time when mum
has nothing better to do and is
unlikely to be disturbed Then
get her playing It you choose
the nghf games shell he an
addict in no time. Then, of
course, you won't be aMa to get
near the Computer*

Should you have ever had the
chance to see early issues ot our
sister mag , CRASH . you would
have seen the 'Living Software
Guide that appeared in early

don't make use of a tew new

hyperboles Many people
complain about strange new
words claiming their use is an
indication of the misuse of the
language. You would probably
accept that a game could be
described as 'fantastic' and yet
that would be to use the
colloquial meaning of the word
rather than its strict, old

f.isJiiiDiiril mramikj Yuu rr
beginning to sound a bit like
Zap hod BeebJebrox the fourth,
great Grandfather of Zephod
Beebtebrax the first {Read
Hitchhikers Guide to see why).
QTS

issues A simitar event was
planned tar Z/AP 1 64. but its
editor at the time, none other
man the profwietor of the other
rnaq you refer to, decided
■pJnit It and elf the copious
woffc done by Room Candy wee
thrown away The point «. our
pedigree is on record, and the
Amstrad index to existing
software, compiled by Robin,
was an absolute certainty in
AMT1X ■ long before the first
issue was on the art tables We
don't really care what other
people do

In some European countries,
Holland for en ample, the
Amstrad is marketed under the
name of Schneider \ and some
British software houses with *r
eye to European sales era
marking their cassettes
accordingly for a country wtwrp
the name Amstrad" is
unknown.

QTS

A NEED FOR A NEW CLUB

DearAMTIX'

L 1(£ many other people in this
great country, I have jusi
purchased (with a great deal of
help), a new Amstrad only to
find that the user dub P abrnii
whirh rd heard so much, cost*
f 19.95 to join I was very
disappointed Amsoft did not
think about three categories ol
people that would find £20 00
outside of their means, namely
schoolchildren, the elderly and
the unemployed-
Would it not be possible for
someone to come up with a dub
for these three?

I know you won't publish this
but porn aps you could ask other
iMHip!* fc, !i points of view,
Derek Plows. MikfenhaN,
Suffolk

There you arm, we've published
it 1 You aren't the only person to
complain A lot of people think
they get very little from the club
in return for I heir twenty
pounds, unless, of course you
are buying extra hardware in
which case the membership
cost can be made up for by the
available discounts Mo doubt
you will be interested to know
Amstrad have now sold the user
club but more about thai in the
news You might think
independent user dub-. QOUld
offer better value, in which case
you had better keep an eye on
our new club page
01$

ENSURE YOUR REGULAR
COPYOFAMTIX!

When a magazine is rising in crrcutafton (being new,
AMTIX' is doinc;

may experience your cot

month So the best thmg to do is place a regular

local newsagent which you can do by handing him
this form.

Please place me a regular monthly order for
AMTIXf Magazine.

Name

Address

I
I

To the Newsagent:

AMTIX! Mac i a/ me is published middle of every

month by Newsfteld Ltd 1 2 K Ludlow,

Shropshire 5Y8 1AQ Tel 05*4 5851 and
newstrade by CQMAG (QGR4 4405' *.th

the publishers if you have any tiea in obta

SMOOTH RUNNING ON
6128

Dear AMTIX"

I like your magazine — and have

only two complaints.

Cutting out a coupon destroys
information on the other side of
the page If you must have cut
out coupons, why not have a
special page for them thai can
be removed without destroying
the rest of the maoa/mc. You
might then get more response to
your adverts.

That horrible ugly qi ant poster
in issue number 3- what a
useless load ol old tat Why not a
g i ant full colour games map
Instead?

Buying a cassette to run on the
6126 is a problem at present
Why no I produce a list of tape
software Thiii will run on this
machine and a list of software
that will not?

It is with this in mind that I
have enclosed a list ol software
that I know from experience will
Or will not run on the 61 28

This lot WILL mn on the 6128
Splat Laserwarp, Gcttferwne
Mat, Hunchback. 3D fftvad&rs*
Cyrus 3D Chess. CPC 464
Amstrad Tutorial Basic.
Southern Befte t Df&gaMvrc,

Superrhete, 3D Voice Chess.
Kuttg fu m Number One, Beach
Head. Jet Set Witty, Sabre Wuff,
Dec&rhtoti.

This lot will NOT run on the
6128

Gems OfStradus, Cra/y Gaff,
Ci/btf

A Mabom, Wallasey
i vie i leysjoe

A coupons pane always sounds
like a food idea to readers . but it
isn't that easy to arrange,
believe it or not! At the last
minute, changes to pagination
can result m an ad or a
competition with a coupon

Fhefe*

_ put almosl anywt
whatever s on the back We
suggest you photocopy the
coupon it that's possible, but
you can always the 'ape' the
essentials of the coupon in
letter form if you want
Meantime, we'll do our best to
keep coupons in bJocks
wherever possible

Thank you for the list We did
put out a plea in the last issue
tor iust such a thing r though we
had something a Irttle more
comprehensive in mind When
we have collected a lew more
like yours we will publish the
'Comprehensive Compatibility
Guide'.
OTS

AMTIX March 1986

iip

rl ' 1 1 rl H * 1 1 r i ^

FTTi

X ^^hi

RSiiTHi

i ........ .

:::::::::i:z::i:i::i:i::i:i::::i::i:ii:

GRAND PRIX AND CLEAN
BOOTS

DearAmiix!

I was £4 n ing processing the
days orders in the busy AflNOR
office when somebody pushed
the AMTIX f mag under my nose.
I don't know why — ii wasn't
running at the time 1 The mag
had been opened at thii letters
page and a large pici u re of 3D
GwuffrtJt. inlay was now in

fron( Ol my

As the author of 3D Grand Prtx
\ was very grateful for the
quarter page ad which was far
cheaper than She usual rates,
L could you manage a half page,
full colour next time! 7 I read,
wiihoui interest the letter m OTS
from Shaiqal HasuE, and his
comments were about as
constructive as a mallet with a
Lego set 1 Shahrat admitted he
works for a newsagent. In other
words he reads a\\ the
interesting mazarines before he
pops them through your letter
box His ability to put pan to
paper is beyond dispute but the
words that come out really show
thai he should not waste l rees in
this manner.

Fatrats comments were
totally unqualified and I suggest
I here are over 30.000 owners of
3D Grand Phm who would totally
disagree with him In fact, some
of the Pavrocfact statements

COMPETITION CRAZY

Dear MfTAX"
You Amsters down there in
Ludlow have really gone end
done it this time, haven't you?
The reason for this outburst? I
will explain . . .

May I ask a question? Can
competitions reproduce? Can
birds fly? Are double-decker
buses always crowded?

Okay, so in issue 1 you decide
to make an impact. Result? Five
competition ran enough

Issue 2: Keep it bio', say
Roger and Jeremy. Result? Six
competitions. Okey we'll
swallow that one

issue 3 : 1 magi ne t he scene ;■
The team stagger mio the office
at 2.00 in the morning after a
hard night's drinking down at
the local where Oliver thought
he saw Terminal Man through
one of the window* Once
returned* e mind- numbing ly
bored competition minion has a
flash of inspiration, Amazing

Kiu think, there's still hope for
IT AX ' i Wrong, Hope died with
the coming of Splash
(Zapperooni was another nail in
the coffin). Anyway, bade to the
inspiration, "I know/ says the
minion peering through glazed

eyas, 'let's put a competition in
next months MtTAXr Result of
one heavy session - NINE
COMPETITIONS! Does being a
MITAXIAN give you a license to

were EotaHy without fact The
game was originally released on
the BBC micro by Software
Invasion before ftote Po&ttton
had lefr the Alan stables. So it
was a Becb conversion not a
Speccy one '

Furthermore, Paraquat stated
we should produce only original
titles, Well this is just being
naive r The software ho uses will
produce titles that have a market
demand, Last Christmas there
was such a demand for a good
racing game on the Amstrad
micros. 3D Grand flrwr was the
answer 1 1 feel that sales of over
30,000 units in a two month
period really justifies the
conversion of this BBC title.

The AMTIX review of 3D
Grand Prut wps totally unbiased
and quite fair even though it
contained some inaccuracies.
The names of all the courses
were incorrectly spelt (as they
were m the Amsott mla^
Ooops f \ I wel I that s on
120,000 spelling mistakes now
then I

By the way. how did the "CTRL
ARTWORK' poke spiH out to you
lot at AMTIX* The other well
known mag was supposed to be
printing that this month
Actually \ used ARTWORK
because it was the title of the

frjf Kuma and I knew \
it as a plug someday i lis that
alright Ed?). I suppose
Pirateshnt has got thai one as
well Goody, another free ad

be totally insane* Or is that one
of the many qualifications you
need to enter MfTAXI I lowers?
Come on guys, stash the beer
away, sober up and act normal.
Or is normal the wrong word?
Christopher Winstanley,
Freckleton, Lines

So you don't like winning free
prizes, huh? Well, we've all got
our problems, yours is
Obviously Spelling However,
your missive did inspire us to
take a took at Comp Minion's
activities and we realised, after
he broke down in tears under
questioning, that he was
actual) v trying to take over the
magazine Thanks to your letter
we stopped him, just in time. To
make sure this never happens
again we have taken his disk
drive away so d what with having
to save text files onto cassette
he just hasn't got time to write a
whole magazine of
competitions. Thank you As for
our being insane — ridiculous
we are just a nice bunch of
thoughtful, kind, considerate . .
The next writer has a point to
make about comps
QTS

WE'RE GETTING THERE

DearAMTIX"

Although I Fook forward to

seeing your magazine on the

neat month! Remaps he could
slag off Gatecrasher a bit' — that
one's not selling too well at The
moment

\ better go now as the phone is
ringing again. Another
customer after his Maxam,
PrQtoMt and UtQpfa* (Can I say
that here 7 ! fit's pushing n a b*t
-ED/

Keep up the good work
Sh a flea E . Oh a nd I nearly forgot, I
think thai AMTJX i mag islhe
best thing since Health and
Efficiency and I will come and
lick your boots any lime II
wonder if I will get my copy sem
to me now).

Dave Mendes , Eftopel Software
Services

Well that didn't take long did it?
ft was inevitable someone
would jump to the defence of 3D
Grand Prix after that vitriolic
attack in the last wh But it was ■
bit unsubtle of you to let us
know it was you — the author —
you should have pretended to
be a fan — rather like a well
known adventure creation
package is being defended in
every mag in the land 1 Glad you
liked the full size pictures but
what a surprise that you havent
had the bill yet — the accounts
department will be chased f

We were going to give you
letter of t he month but no doubt
you've got mom V
you need. So we wont

shelves Of the newsagents each
month, I am a little disappointed
that it has to be supported by
half an article scattered across
the pages that first saw life m
CRASH magazine The PCW
Show article in the first issue of
AMTIX! along with one or two
articles and competition
borrowed" from the pages of
CRASH m the Christmas issue 3.
In this new year, now that ihe
megazine, is apparency

established, plea$e organise
yourselves and let AMTIX 1 be
independent from CRASH leg
your Camel competition seems
to state that there are prizes for
Spectrum as well as Amstrad
owners — the reason being,
methinks, that the competition

wa$ originally written for
CRASHl So how about it huh?
No offence to Spectrum owners
of course, but the Amstrad, I
feet should receive the material
popularity thai the Spectrum
has enjoyed in the past.
One thing I feel can be
excluded from thrs criticism
though is the re-printing of the

Eictu re Story The Terminal Man'
or rowed from the sister
magazines of AMT1X1. 1 think
that it is excellent and I am
pleased I am able to read it in
AMTIX! (although in issue 3,
page 12T, did someone actu illy
say something or is that empty
speech bubble an accident?}.
The science fiction artwork of
Oliver Frey is excellent lone of

WHY ARE WE
HC0MPATIB1E?

Dear AMTIX I

I recentfy bought am Amu rad

664, as f he Moiw who Roid it to

me in me shop said 'Oh yeah

mate, ft' II run alt of the 464

software'.

I was to learn soon after thai if
wont! Every Sunday at 6 you
fl nd me watching Channel 4 and
the American football, so I
suppose you can guess whal the
first game I bought was!

Amstrad tell me thai the
Amfoot is nni 664 compai >t»lo f
have now copied Che game onto
disk, but it still won't run Now
that I can '4isT the game, I
wonder if you can tell me of any
simple changes that 1 can make
to get the program play arte on
my 664. which I must admit to
being very pleased with

Thanks tor an entertatmng
reed every month,

lu» Uflllluhu H| -till ■ ■ ■ ftt-1-. ^..

tan William?, fiiniwii fumy,
Etui

Brt of a toughy this, Ian W*
really don't know how to help
you, not wrthout teeing a copy
of the gam* On the phone all
Amson would say win that the
game wet deleted The good
newt p* that MecMi ll»n
Software are about to release
their own American f ootbafl
game h sounds like H might be
streets ahead of the one Am toft
no longer offer.
QTS

the reasons I buy AMTIX H P and I
look forward 10 Seeing one of his

spaceships on the cover of the
mag.

Long live AMTIX 1
Petrtefc Lee, Cheshunt, Herts

Yes, well . . - there have been
one or two little slip up* in the
art department (they get
confused with three mags on
the table at times) The comps
that nun in all three or just two of
the mags am set up that way,
and we can't see anything
wrong with that, unless the
typesetting gets muddied up
sometimes ? As lo articles, some
of the earlier CRASH/AlvTTlXl
material may have appeared
much earlier in CRASH but you
will notice that as AMTIX > finds
hVs feet the material is being

K Wished simultaneously in
th\ I think one of the articles
you am referring to is Pictures
held in RAM' That was no teas
interesting to AMTIX 1 readers
than rt was to CRASH readers
The blank speech bubble in
Terminal Man was a brt
unfortunate, but there's a lot of
complex work in the
separations (to mask the colour
behind the bubble and make ft
white)- and unfortunately in that
one case the black fe*t failed to
be replaced Mo hum, such is
Irfef
OTS

AMTIX March 1986 11

..,jj„*4-"4*-'<i<-"-l""l' ::: I :::: ! :

+ ^ + HP » * P + 1 ■*■+*■

iliii

iji|ji!:|||!j|]jj)|j!j|

; ::::I;:*:]i:::J::i:|

'Aimli

■ULIulIl

CHARTING A SUCCESS

OMrAMTlKi

1 have just bought your latest
iteue and I think ifs 1 he best
found But I see one problem,
th* solution to which would take
only about i page at most if H
went to inckided Oon'i you
ih ink it's about time we had a
chart that covered both lap* and
disk? Every other magaima has
a chan and whilst we know
you "re different to the others. I
ckm'l think That including a chart
would be den wry. Alio, could
you state m your reviews
whether a game on tap* is also
Available on disk? If you should

print this could you make sure
that a copy goes to Melbourne
House and another To Imau
love "beal cm up' games and
there seem lo be none on disk
Gavin Grimes, Mortiner ,
Berkshire

By now you will have noticed
thai we have started a readers'
chart which does cover tape and
i — it takes up fwo
i by the way true, there
are disjcjous few games
available on tape AND d isfc. Thts
is due to the shortage of disks
and the shortage of people ahJ*
to duplicate games onto them
But things are improving —

OTS

A HAPPY &64 OWNER

DearAMTIXf
Such competitions, such
prizes* f f I must commend you
on the January issue for a range
of compel i! ion pr ma to tu if the
more serous Amstrad owners
amongst us. Not* I must arid,
that I am averse to a spot of alien
annihilation or r Gandalfmg r , but

the only way ! can justify any
expenditure m that direction is
as a present for my 7 year old
»on.

I actually justified my initial
out fay by pointing out I might be
able to make a bit on t hi? s i de I 1
am a programmer by
profession),, and I waited until t
could get the best machine for
my money Guess what I bought
—A 664 1 And the 6128 was

$ SIREN SOFTWARE SH1EN SOFTWARE S

E
N

F
T
■J
A

DISKON

Put those hearferless programs onto disk DISKON
gives you the power. No assemblers,
BBeeaWnblers, monHwi Mfldtd fttli IWO PBfl
program allows you to transfer header less
prog rams and get them running H ot recommend ed
for the novice.

«4 664 and 6126 Disk ttfjf

E
N

s
o

F
T
W
A
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1

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DISCOVERY

Transfer tape based software to disk, now handles
some turboloaders Alters programs to get ihem
running without alteration Adds re locate rs etc
V fautid Dtsco very fust s tort *«iw ta use ' AM TIX I
issue 1

464.664 and 6 1 28 Tape £7 39. Disk f 1 1 99

For speedy delivery send cheques or PO's to:

SIREN SOFTWARE, 76 Bridge Street,
Manchester M3 2RJ
TEL: 061 796 6374

Overseas customers please add £1 .50

E SIREN SOFTWARE SIREN SOFTWARE E

SPECIAL DISPENSATION

Dear Amfix 1

After buying issues 1 and 2 of
AMTfXf t decided to wait until
issue 3 and fill in the
subscription farm as it was too
late for the December edftion to
do so To my horror you have
changed the free games to .
adventures' Is il possible for me
to subscribe and get Qarkst&r
and Tan&busters by Design
Design because I hate, loathe
and detest adventure games, I
hope so, otherwise til nave to
wait for more arcade games
with your subscription offer.

Oh yes, nea r I y forgot. Can you
tell me if there is a second disk
drive (5.25 inches for the

Amstrad machines?

Gary Virnam, Bolton, Lanes

We will make a special
exception for you Get hold of
the form from the Design
Design deal and send that in Ma
are sure Auntie Aggie could be
persuaded to help you out, rf
you ask her nicely

Indeed that are 5 25 inch
drives for the Amstrad, the sort
that take those really floppy .
easy to destroy disks. Ask
Timet ic Systems or Screens
Distribution But think wery
carefully about this, having tw
different sued disk drives has
advantages — but a lot of
problems as well

released almost before the ink
was dry on the cheque.

An awful lol of comment on
the 864/6128 fiasco is real ly sour

grapes "if only I'd waited

etc I am satisfied with the 664.
The advenl of the 6128 has not in
any way reduced the quality of
the 664 as a machine It is still
excellent I would point out.
however, the 61 28 has
drastically reduced the market
for software written on the 664.
Basic programs may be
k 1 1 jwardly and down wa rd I y
compatible, as will 464
emulation code — provided they
don't use the extra memory The
extra memory may be available,
but CPM plus is needed to make
the best use of it. I feel Amstrad
could go a long way to
smooth i no out the friction if thev
were !o offer a system disk for
CPM plus to registered 664
owners at a nominal cost At
least then, those who feel really
hard done by can upgrade
memory (from DKTronJcs) and
have a reasonable emulation of
a 61 28

Alan Saunders, Stack lay,
Manchester

Glad that you approve of the
competitions, despite a
disadvantaged childhood, the
Comp* Minion tries his belt you
know.

There's general agreement
with your sentiments about the
664 While Amstrad may not
h,iv+' played t^» j .l^tnir straight
there s no doubt that it's still a
very good beast As tar as
emulation of the 6128 is
concerned you may have
noticed a Irttle piece in last
month s news titled DK T tonics
failing where Amstrad failed'
Needles to say DK were
nonplussed when they read
that 8ut r they are at last sorting
out a CPM plus system or
emulator for the interested ones
to buy The cost will h-B rmmni.il
but they still feel it would be
fairer lo offer rt as an optional
extra rather than make
everyone who wants extra
memory fork out
OTS

HELP!!

DuarAMTIXi

i own an Amstrad CPCB1 28 and,

needless to say, own a ore

deal of games at well as

business '

seem to be encountering a few

problems with some <v

games Ftrstly, 3t}St#r$ir A

way of Jfte Exptotfing ftsi r and

Dfkatar all seem, despite our

greatesl efforts, to n

lajtijnl Tii I ■'••*■ i

Please, please ha i p

Secondly, lend a little less
pleadingly), do you publish lists
of tips, pokes or advice for the
lol lowing games : -
The Mnbbtf. Rwfuwn to ftim. tkm
Dnr&cto and Su&sun*>
Ben Taylor, Glossop. Per by i hfce

mesons for your not being j
to load those games Allthreeof

ttlim Will load and run on 4

6128; QafkstAf, however , wi
lock up and must be re- loaded at
the end ol each game We gave
some pointer* in issue 4 on
solving load ing proh4em« so
have ■reed through and follow
the suggestions It's all too easy
to daim that games aren't
compatible but thrs is seldom
the case

as tor neea wnn aa v an t y r «
games you will notice that Sean
Maslerson, the Mighty Muppel,
is coming lovou i rescue This
issue he begin % AMT1X 1
ARCANA — the adventure
hetplm*. With any luck your
finger nails should be saved by
Ms scrfebUngs . Hope you entoy
it^
OTS

That s ft lor this issue If you
have any points to make,
grievances to anr r points to
award on subjects ranging from
AMTIX ' itself to the role of the
£128 in this universe or any
other then write to the OTS
team The address is ON THE
SPOT. AMTIX * MAGAZINE, PO
BOX 10. LUDLOW.
SHROPSHtfCSYBlDG

12 AMTIX March 1986

"Reason enough
to buy an Amstrad!"

TONY BRIDGE,
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY

the face rf^

dventute »

% verv clever and friendly

• C ft««m*-£k KEITH CAMPBELL,

piece ot sol t ware. COMPUTER & video games
Tbe mosi c0 unterea era \\

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COMING SOON FOR

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<fH^ATHE BEST ADVENTURE
r WRITING SYSTEM

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Telephone orders and enquiries
(0734) 591678

INCENTIVE
SOFTWARE LIMITED

54 London Street, Reading RG1 4SQ

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Art ic, £7.95 cass

Obsidian is an asteroid, but it's
not the norma* run of the mill
huge piece of rock Floating thr-
ough space, Obsidian is also e
huge space station, which is
buffi within the hoi lowed centre
Of the behemoth To rendezvous
with its mother ship Obsidian
has to pass through the gravity
well of a black hole. The five
engines which power the ship
are suitably shielded to survive
the tortuous journey, but the
human crew aren't, the ship is
abandoned and the crew take
refuge in a small shuttle Craft,
sufficiently prepared to survive
the stresses and strains of the
black hole. Once through, the
shuttle will redock with the
asteroid and continue onwards
to the mother ship.

Not a bad plan until a freak
radiation storm disables Obsi-
dian's power systems. Now the
hulk is drifting slowly into Obli-
vion without either a flight path
or engine control Such a hap
hazard flight into another uni-
verse would destroy the ship, A
meeting is held on the shuttle
and a volunteer' is chosen to
teleport back to the ship and
reactivate all the necessary
equipment.

You are the volunteer* and
even though your knowledge of
the ship is intimate, your way is
now constantly blocked by the
reactivated security systems. All
the internal doors have been
locked and laser grids have
sparked into life, The keys and
passes to get past the defences
are held in different sections of
the ship within locked boxes
You have the keys for these and
may collect the helpful objects,
although you may only hold one
object at a time.

To get around the ship a nitro
powered jet pack is supplied. By
modern standards this is a bit
antiquated, but it was the best
available at the onset of the
mission, The jet packs major
disadvantage is its tendency to
explode when the fuel tanks
empty. Around the ship are
venous nitro refuelling points,
but they are few and far
oetvirfjcn.

To achieve your aims it's
important to make the best of
your inability to carry more than
one object Also to survive its
best to avoid contact with sec
unty drones wandering along
their preset paths This is all
done with a bit of bra m work and
a lot of careful jet pack manoeu-
vring. The conuoJs available to
do tnis are left and right move-
ment and thrusi which activates
the back pack's engines and
throws you into the air. Another
key is provided to col led /drop
any objects found around the
shtp

As you move around the ship

14 AMTIX March 1966

them with a few screens con-
taming nothing on the move and
nowhere in sight was anything
moving out of its set pattern to
chase you — which tended to be
a bit boring after a while. Qo-
stdian is a game for people who
like arcade/adventures that do
noi rely too heavily on frm
splatting or problem parts of the
game, although presenting a
dial lenge a I f i rst I do n 1 1 h ink it's
got much game Fife-span.

3 7 be grapbtc$ are de bn tte-
f ly the most striking fea-
__J lure about this program
- some of the effects g&mrated
by (be 3D ba$~r&twt grapbtcs an?
realty nice Otherwise therm's
nothing outstanding about (be

leaving the edge of the screen
brings you onto another m a f Nek
screen fashion. The back-
grounds ere mostly of a hi
istic type with bas relief grap
hies. Mode two is used for the
screen display and the graphics
are fairly detailed, taking advan-
tage of the extra resolution

The problems set out in the
game are fftirly logical Along
the bottom of the screen is a
status panel showing score and
nitro levels plus a brief text
description of the object carried.
When collecting an item its use
may seem strange, but when the
situation presents itself for the
artifact to be used all comes
clear. Once the star map is lo-
cated and placed in the right
tocation the game is over
Control keys: Definable

ITICISM

Qhsitfum is quite a nice
arcade adventure of an
above average sort The
graphics are tar more than ap-
pealing and are really quite en
toy able The game rtsetf is fairly
simple, aff hough ardent ariven
turers might well find it Quite
enjoyable since it isn't easy to
solve The jet pack control is
nice, although it is a bit easy to
crash, The nrtro tends to run out
a Jrttle prematurely as well.

Overall not a bad game though
not exactly mega. May be well
worth a look at far the hardened
arcade adventurer.

After the first impact of
possibly a good, well
presented game I disco
vered that Obsidian was just like
any other problem game but
with a bit more colour and less
sound (only a small amount of
sound effects}. The trouble was
that it became all very predict
able and easy to solve once a
few puzzles had been solved.
The animation of the main char-
acter and the baddies is quite
nice, although hostiles seem
rather few and tar between.
Although the game contains
some hard arcade features I
found there were not enough of

game — ft's just an average.
rather stmpfe, arcade adventure
f suppose tbat it you're a real
addict of arcade Adventures and
aw suffering from withdrawal
symptoms thts coufd weit keep
you occupied for a wbtie, or/wr
wise sbop around, (bare are
better than thts.

Presentation 72%

Definable keys are mp4l helpful
but overall presentation could
be much better

Graphics 84%

Most striking future of the
game

Sound 37%

Too few sound effects

Payability 72%
Challenging at Tint but soon
loses its appeal

Addictive qualities 61%

One for the true arcade addict

Value for money 63%
Not overpriced for trie Amttr ad
rnartet

Overall 64%

tty ordinary gam© with no
remarkable features

At r • t •• t

number one arcade Hit jgr

2£qfT

Atf«*.

>«>

# >7

COMMODORE
64/128

TAPE DISK

£9.95 £14.95

■ y?

iivt\3 m I il

MASTER

□ATA IABT

^A.

Travel through the
wizards temple to rescue
trie fair maiden, beware
the weapon weilding
henth men, defeat the
deadly guardian of the
five floors.

Unit T 0, Partrwsf Industnal Cemra. Heneatfi- Str

Birmingham B7 4tY Tel 02 1 -35* 8B81

I --1-

, ...}.. ,zti^iii$\\\n\^

Spindizzy

Electric Dreams, £9 95

cass

Author: Paul Shirley

- i \ :-~ r ? T T : rr

j .illj-jiili'il-::::!::?

As we all know, working for the
corporation is a herd life indeed
end the mission youVe to be
sen! on thts time is far from the
usual run of the mill stuff, The
back room boys have discover-
ed a new dimension that eon*
lams a world hung in- space. Of
course they warn it mapped and
as Trainee Assistant Cartogra-
pher for Unknown Worlds, the
jpb's fallen to you. Because of
the company's far from noble
motivations, it's all government
Sponsored wort you know, time
is money; The more lime you
spend Out there the more money
the company can claim Since
the energy powering the scout
craft rsrVt covered by the gov-
ernment pram what you're sup-
plied with is very meagre in
deed Not to worry thougn, they
say thai in a few of the more
recently discovered dimensions
there's plenty of energy to be
collected It would be wise to
take advantage of any such
power source lor it looks good if
youre going for promotion. The
craft you are given is none too
impressive j t"s one of those old
fashioned centrifugal drtve in-
verted pyramids, and happens i o
be called Gerald. So there you
have ft. do a good job and the
rewards will be far f rem sparse.
Otherwise , , , well you don't
want to be Trainee Assistant
Cartographer all your life, do
you?

As the astute reader may well
have surmised by now p Spin-
dizzy places you on en unknown
world just acning to be mapped.
Not an easy task considering
there's 429 different sections to
be explored and recorded,
Gerald is en intelligent beast
equipped with the latest in
scenery interpretation software.
You view the outside world
through a scanner and the imm
ediate area is represented as a
forced 3D perspective view,
There's a bit of an anomaly her*
in that you can actually see
you're own craft even though
sat inside it. Still with a bn of
practise of the necessary dextral
skills it should be quite easy to
adjust to this strange point of
view. If what you're seeing is a
bit awkward for example Gerald
is behind a pillar or something
end is proving troublesome to
control, then the view can be
altered with a mere keypress
shilling the view to a different
angle. Vour scanner tends to
simplify the outside world quite
a bit and it all looks very angular,
the background computer en-
hanced with an overlaying grid
pattern to h&tp the viewer rec-
ognise 3D shapes on a 2D
screen. At first glance the view

16 AMTIX March T986

se e m s quite familiar, bearing a
resemblance to the arcade game
Marbfe Madness,

A major battle in cotrolling
Gerald is the inability of his
engines to COpa with some of
the slopes A good run up to
accumulate speed and momen
turn mgy welt be needed to
negotiate some of the hills to be
Climbed Gerald controls con-
vincingly and predictably with
the joystick : up, down, right and
left all moving him around in the
appropriate directions. Fire
gives a burst of energy, accel
erating Gerald rather swiftly m
the direction the joystick is held.
The major confusing factor is
the constant battle against force
and momentum.

Since the new world is hung in
the infinity Of space, falling on it
is not a sensible idea. Though
this situation is not as terminal
as it may seem, Gerald will
beam himself and you back to
the last location visited, but to
do this Gerald needs to tap into
his power supply resulting in a
toss of energy, Flying off an
incline allows Gerald to fry into
the air and land Once ag*in on
terra firme. Going too fast off a
particularly steep incline will
throw Gerald too high into the
air and he'll land with quite a
bump, a bump large enough to
split Gerald into four component
parts Tapping into his energy
reserves he's able to reorganise
once more, but the energy
counter is surTahlv altered.

Life isn't all bad though, for
there are more than a few loca-
tions which contain strangely
pulsating power crystals. Travel
over one of these and your en
ergy bank will flourish. Another
counter also keeps track of how
many jewels have been collec-
ted the way it works out is that
to successfully map the planet

all the energy jewels need to be
collected, so this counter is quite
an accurate indication of your
progress.

The alien world contains quite
a bit of evidence of previous
inhabitants of a very advanced
level. Though no longer residing
there, their buildings and cons-
tructs still Nve on within the
meppeble area. Even though
very ancient quite a few of Ine
mechanisms still operate. In fact
using the lift system is essential
to achieve any sort of worth-
while progress. The lift plat-
forms come m a variety of
shapes and sizes, most of them
prettily patterned in some man-
ner. Painted into the floor at
several locations are represen-
tations of the lift platforms
When entering the world all lifts
are passive, moving over a lift
■con on the floor activates any
platforms of a similar pattern to
f hp icon. The trouble is that only
two types of lift may be activated
at any one time- The patterns of
activated platforms are display
ed on the bottom left hand side
of your scanner.

Of course the idea of the game
is to map the place ^ry& your
scanner also carries information
showing how many rooms are
left to be mapped If this is not
enough then a mere plonk on
the Mkey draws up a map of the

Klanet locations visited duly
ighlighted Tab returns the
player to the game

Failure presents itself when
the energy is lacking, even tf the
flesh is willing. The bitter fruits
of defeat do have their sweet
Spots and in Sptndifzy it's a
detailed debriefing of your pro
gresa from Geratd Still you can
always try again As I've said
before,, no one wants to stay
Junior Assistant Cartographer
forever!

>i.

I was very disappointed
with Gyroscope, after
that I thought the Mtrhte
Madness arcade game would be
impossible to convert to the
Amstrad - but Electric Dreams
have done wonders and pro
duced a game that would still be
good after a few months herd
playing. Sptn Duiy is the best
game I've played on the Ams-
trad (and that's saying some
thing), graphics are brilliant
with a colour option end even a
item option and a host of other
features thai contribute to the
whole add id iv en ess of the
game A tune is left out which
seems to me to be a good step in
the direction of speed and
inertia ■ but the spot effects ere
very good I even found a room
where I could play a great tittle
tune by gliding over lots of
different objects, I've not had so
much fun for ages Everything
about this game is fantastic -
load s of options, loads of colour
and loads of game I don't
usually have the chance to play
games in my spare time F but I
think HI make an exception En
Sptn Qffjy's*

\r\] After the abysmal Wtnrer
l§JS4 Sports. Electric Dreams
l***i have certainly pulled their
act together with the absolutely
amazing Spmdtzzy K is im P'

osftibie to appraise this game
without somehow under— rat-
ing it Starting with! he graphics,
they are the best I have seen
The movement is very fife l^e.
with mertia and momentum
realistically reproduced within
the 3D environment, Though
both Kntghfon* and Alien §
presenile! some cute puzzle* to
be solved they are nowhere
when compered to Sptndfuy
Take away all the gloss and you
are still left with an excellent
game, the solving of which may
keep many a gamester up into
the wee hours of the morning.
Sptndizzy is a truly outstanding
release arid will probabfy be
used as a yardstick for future
Amstrad releases

Spin-dizzy is gutte stmpfy
ime of THE most impres-
sive games / have seen on
ANY home micro JVte graphics
are reaffy amaring with exceff-
ent Marble Madness sty fa b&cfc
grounds end sprites The sound
m superb with excellent spot FX
although there is no music. The
game ts on $ par with the grap
htcs and sound, and it is quite
stmpfy exceffent I haven't ptay-

ed a game as addictive as
Spindizzy for * long time and if

Sou want to buy a game with
uge amounts of fasting appeal
f/wfl rhis is the one to buy An
excettent release from Emctrfc
Dreams &n& makes up for the
poor Winter Sport*

Presentation 97%

Useful demonstration and help

modes

Graphics 98%

Highly attractive and *
effect we 30 graphics.

Sound 88%

Very rewarding spot effects
when objects are collected.

Payability 98%
Instantly playable, even at
mindless level

Addictive qualities 98%
Should never gather dust.

Value for money
Slightly above th
worth the (oof.

Overall 98%

The best yet? unless you know
better

rrm —

AMTtX March 1986 17

,REV,I£M^

£7.95 cass

Author: Tooba Zaida

Tubaruba is the nickname ac-
quired by a young school lad
who is by far" the most infamous
in his school, Throughou! his
school career Tuba has annoyed
and pestered his schoolmasters
with pranks and antics. Up till
now the teachers have tolerated
Tubas far from agreeable be
haviour. mainly because Ihev
haven't been able to catch him in
the act of performing any net
a nous deeds. That was until the
headmaster caught him m the
act of smashing a school win-
dow Seeing (has is an excuse to
expel the disagreeable lad, the
headmaster gave Tuba an ulti-
matum, either collect fifty
pounds to cover the damage he
has caused ot be expelled In*
tantly If Tuba had deeded to
plump for expulsion then this
SWOOldnJ |,-< much of <j QifTIt

Luckily he decided to attempt to
collect the vast sum of money
and so confident was the head-
master that the young lad will
fail he even bei his Ferran 1

Tuba's school is a very str-
ange place indeed. Along wilh
the standard issue grey shorts
and blue top for school uniform
is a battery powered jet pack
Also standard issue is a chewing
gum gun for blowing up any
obstacles. Thai isn't the strange
part, that's all quite normal
considering the other inhabi-
tants of the school building
Apart from other pupils there s
al&o a healthy colony of de-
monic type creatures whose
touch is far from beneficial,
Nasties that plague Tuba's pro

Br ess include fatty homing
unch backs, bomb dropping
cherubs, Spiders (big 'unsj.
ducks most evil and other en-
tities that do their best to defy
description.

Tubaruba is in fact an arcade
adventure and not 41 revolution-
ary at all &nd takes the format of
a million such programs before.
Controlling f,he main character

about the screen, travelling off
the edge causes a new screen to
flip into view. Tuba can be made
to fly through the air, jel pack
powered, or trot along the floor,
biped powered. The jet pack is
activated by pushing up and
then using left or right. Leave the
joystick antral and Tuba floats,
gravity aided, to the nearest bit
Of terra firrtia,

Backpacking and walking
aren't the only mode of trans
port, somewhere around the
school sits a C5 that can be
hopped tnto Strangely this
recharges any deficiency in the
battery depa rtmen t .

Most of the time it s best to
use the backpack but its power
demand saps your batteries.
Having charged batteries is
quite important, let them go low

18 AMTIX March 1986

and the games over. Jet packing
is not the only battery sapping
pastime that Tuba can take pan
rn. firing off bursts from his gum

Sjn drains power. It's worth it
ough. just to see the psyche-
delic explosions of anything that
gets gummed.

Bumping into nasties is defi-
nitely not advised as a big chunk
of power falls off the energy bar
depicting the battery stetuS-
Some static creatures, sitting
innocently, also drain energy rf
Tuba is too close,

Cash is left in two denomin-
ations, pound notes and five
penny cams, it's easy to collect
fust guide Tuba over it Admit
tedly Tubaruba doesn't claim
anywhere to be logical, but for
some totally unexplained rea-
son collecting red hammers
replenish*! i elftcklftfl Ujtt^y

Picking up the odd coke can and
sticky bun is also quite benificial
aswell

The game is over once fifty
quid Is safely in the coffers, fail
and a grade is handed out
commenting on your achieve-
ment. So you*d better do well
because nothing's worse than a
bad report
Control keys:

CRITICISM

I first played t h is game on
telq a green screen monitor
Z—i and was amazed at how
effective the colours were in
presenting the name to a green
Am M fad user On loading I was
presented with the High -Score
table with balls bouncing all
OMf It, complemented by some
of the best two— channel music
I've heard to date on the Ams-

trad. The game itself is very
Pyjamamma-ish* but the speed
and fast reactions you need to
play it are just amazing — but
strangely are easy to get used
to. Tubaruba is a funny sort of
school kid who has the amazing
power of being able to fly. One
of the game's best features was
the energy bar — only one life
which is how it should be. Some
great touches are that when you
go for a drive in the CS you get
your energy replenished, eod
■re allowed to gain new vigour
for you quest for 50 quid. My
only complaint with this pro-
gram is that sometimes when I
landed in a room I was con-
fronted with three good-looking
guys, all like me and it took me
quite a while to work out who
was who Tubaruba is a great

Bame which is well worth
uying — even if only for the
superb sound.

Though immediately

impressed with the deli
ohtful, though somewhat
excessive, use of colour r I Quick-
ly started to get bored of this
game. Grea* fun though it is to
zoom around ogling at the very
impressive explosions, after a
while the appeal palls, Playing
the game as it is meant to be
played is very dull indeed.
Graphically Tubgrvba is quite
impressive, some of the back-
grounds are very pretty indeed.
The speed things happen it vary
varied , velocity of anything
moving being decided On how
many other objects are zooming
around. Very clumsy mdeed
Though not over impressed I
can see its appeal to arcade
adventure freaks but it just
didn't thrill meal all

a Though not bad. I
coukfn Y /afe Tubaruba as
I anything except ionaf.
Cotourfuf if ft, enjoyable A fen 'r
Them is a vague mmdfess ap-
peal to /t mpptng the nasties
and seeing them f?xpiode into a
myriad of pixels isn't a tori way
to pass the time / wouldn't pay
for the privilege though. When it
comes down to tt Tubaruba is aft
exceedingly stmpfo game rhr>i
tan f realty worth anyone's time
of day or money,

Presentation 83%

Consistency pliiasxjnf though no
exceptional features present.

Graphics 91%
Very colou rfu I and usually Quite
pretty, Definitely the game's
best pomt

Sound 82%

Very good tune though the
sound effects rattle a b<1

Playabilrty81%
Instantly fun wilh easy and
satisfying control modes.

Addictive qualities 71%

Long term appeal i« a I ittle lack
lustre though may well please
arcade adventurers.

Value for money 79%

Worthwhile though better
bargains can be found

Overall 85%

A n.ce little game that

represents rf

SCREWBALL

Blue Ribbon, £2 50 cass
Author:

Poor old ScrewbaM > He s sud
denly found himself on a aerie?
of coloured terraces and he's in
b predicament for there are four
horribly evil Black Bugs after his
Wood

Jumping from terrace to ter-
race changes their colour, and
what or Screwy babes has to do
is change Ihem a I Mo another
colour. When he does ho "5 cjiv»-n
few seconds reprieve from
being chased whilst the com-
putef sets up another, more
ylt screen

On the (frst screen everything
is quite slow and the Black Bugs
trudge after our hero in a very
half -nearied fashion. In later
screens life, or rather the pre-
servation of life, is a far more
difficult task and the BB's fair
loom around the terraces in
search of Screws blood Just to
make Me a little more miserable
to the harmless littPe chappie,
gaps start to appear In the ter-
races and he can easily find
himself cornered if he's not
careful

Luckily he's not totally de-
fenceless and can dig holes for
the horrible denizens to fall into.
If al I else f a i Is t hen quick I * p on
the RETURN key will result in his
being hypers|)aced back to the
top of the screen This last ditch
attempt to save a life isn't a
guaranteed success, and there's

only a 50/50 chance Screwball
will survive the hyperspace
process,

Each screen has a €0 second
time limit and if its not com-
pleted within that time ihen one
of your five livr- and the

screen has to be started over
again If it all seems too hard
then don't worry, an extra life is
earned after completing each

Control faeys A: up loft. Z: down
right CLOSE SQUARE BRAC-
KET: up right. /:down left.
RETURN: hvpetspaee, SPACE
dig hole. DELETE, freeze game,
iPY: unfreeze game

CRITICISM

I find il very difficult to
become at all enthusias
tic over a game which
graced most home micros over
two years ago. Screwball is a
very second rate version of O
6Vrt and doesn't have either the
cu ten ess or play ability of the
cult arcade game The graphics
are poor and the Amstrad takes
ages and ages to set up a new
screen The sound is non-exi*-
tent and *o"s the animation on
the characters Even al £2 50 the
game is overpriced, especially
when you consider other soft-
ware companies offer far better
quality and more original games
at a cheaper price.

JUlEtiHBfljL

SCREWBALL

holes tor jne unsuspecting bugs
to drop info An interesting
feature of me game fa bemg
greeted by a fun* and a set of
instructions on the scrmn as the
game is being loaded. The
phtcs an* only average but* the
colours do add to the enfvynient
of the game Quite good value
for money

I'm afraid this ts a very
poor copy of the popular
arcade game and is no
where near as addictive as the
original It seemed to lake years
to set up a rww screen and once
you had played it there did not
appear to be any reason to give
it a re-run, No sound or anim-
ation on the characters and in
my view an overpriced game
even if it does sell for just f 2 50

The centre? character of
frr/5 game to a tttfie f e m w
J be/f who fa desperately
trying to avoid the menacing
black bugs white treading on all
of the tiles. As an aid you can dig

Presentation 61%

Of a reasonable standard but
noth ing to get exerted about

51%

Simple characters and very slow
in setting up the screen

Sound 25%

What sound?

Play ability 32%

Dead easy to play but very, very

repetitive

Addictive quaHffe* 34%

The antique scenario soon
bonng.

money 31 %
Cheap, but net good value

Overall 30%

Even ageing O Bert fans would
soon become bored by this

OUT NOW

THE MUSIC SYSTEM

AMSTRAD CPC 464/664/6128
£15 95 (TAPE) £1995 (DISK)

As previewed in last month's AMTIX!

' . . , looks like it will far surpass any musical

utility previously written for the Amstrad /

■

Send cheque or PO to;
RAINBIRD SOFTWARE
WELLINGTON HOUSE
UPPER ST MARTIN'S LANE
LONDON WC2H 9DL

Credit card bookings on 01 240 6637

AMTIX March 1986 19

WHO DARES WINS II

Alligata, £7.95 cass
Author: Steve Evans

Fancy taking The role of a sole
commando armed with only a
machrne gun and a few gren
atfes with the task of capturing
flight enemy outposts again si
massive opposition? Well, with
the latest release from Allegata
yOLi now can. Who Dares Wtns if
puts you in that exact situation
where with adrenalin flowing,
you are put in a position where
k 1 1 1 of be ki I Fed is me on ly option .

The action takes place over a
flick screen, detailed landscape
where you have to progress up
the screen. When you reach the
top of the screen the screen
changes and puts you at the
bottom of the ne*t section of
landscape. The idea of the game
19 simply to reach and destroy
the outpost found at the end of
each section of landscape

When you start the game you
are really put m at the deep end,
Shattered buildings lie each side
of you and the only choice is to
go forward across the bare and
blasted landscape.

As you can expect the lands-
cape is absolutely infested with
the enemy — these blue and
brown uniformed soldiers
emerge from the sides of the
•ereen. jumping off buildings or
runnng cut from behind trees
and instantly start attacking you
L ucki ry the i r cou n try isn "t too hot
on the technological scene and
they're only armed with single
shot rifles Your brilliant flub
machine gun is capable of
pounding out around three
rounds a second malting life a
itlJe easier. Even so, the sheer

number of the enemy is some-
times overwhelming.

Across the landscape a re scat-
tered many hazards and traps
and caution is needed when the
screen flicks to the next section
of landscape — sometimes
there is something hostile just
awaiting an overconfident sol-
dier Quicksand awaits an un-
wary commando who hasn't got
his eyes peeled and pools of
water with crumbling banks
claim anyone who strays too
near their edge,

Other hazards include soldiers
with deadly accurate mortars,
although they can be disposed
of by lobbing one of your limited
grenades at them You start the
game with six grenades and
more are parachuted m to help
you on your way When they
fend simply run over the box and
another three grenades are
added to your total

Occasionally you II come
across enemy vehicles, either
manually driven or robot con-
trolled These always move
across the screen, although the
robot controlled tanks move left
and right in an attempt to gain a
I i ne wit h you so they can fire one
of their missiles accurately
There are also railway lines
which have to be crossed These
ore pretty hazardous since little
railway carriages trundle along
the lines every so often. All these
vehicles can be disposed of with
a well -aimed grenade and give a
nice load of bonus points if
successfully destroyed

The real danger comes from

the skies where two types of
planes, one which flies across
the screen and one wh>ch flies
down the screen, threaten your
existence. The one wh>ch fries
across the screen drops very
accurate bombs {plenty of run
ning and dodging needed here)
but the ones ihat fty down the
screen are by far the most
deadly. These strafe as they bear
down on you at high speed
giving you only a split second to
react,

Occasionally you'll come
across one of your allies. The
only trouble is that he's in rather
dire straights since he's tied to a
post and about to get shot by a
soldier. Shooting his would-be
executioner gams a points
bonus and your fellow soldier
will be saved

As you approach the outpost
there are rivers with tiny bridges
which are the only way across
You have to shoot the soldiers
on the far side if you are to get
across safely since a single
accurate shot from them as you
cross Spells certain doom.
Sometimes soldiers in boats
patrol these waters although
they don't pose any threat to
your soldier

When the outpost is finally
reached many soldiers pour
ft om it and a pitched battle, with
you in the middle, ensues, It's
then up to your skill and reflexes
to survive. If you manege to kill
ail the soldiers then the outpost
will be declared yours and you'll
automatically go forward to
tackle the neat, and far more

treacherous mission -

On later levels soldiers in
potholes and a far more haiar-
dous landscape, try to lessen
your already slim chances of
survival.

You Start the game with five
lives although extra ones can be
earned at regular point intervals.

This is a great little game
and one which is
welcome considering the

liS of action arcade games on
the Am* trad The flick itteen
system works pretty well and
adds another hazard to a bud-
ding hero — you have no indi-
cation what rs coming next *nd
often it's very easy to go
tumbling into a rive* or pothole
if you're not careful The gra-

Shics are very nice and the semi
D works really well If your* an
hungry enisle* looking for an
excellent arcade game then look
no further than this.

Who B&r&s Wms ft is an
excellent arcade game for
shoot em up addicts The

Same is initially very easy, el-
lough from the second level
onwards things start to become
tough The graphics are very
good and give a nice feeling of

20 AMTIX March 1986

"■V

' :: % ,-i

. II ■ ,

Jl^L^

realism as you see your soldier
running ?cross the barren land-
scape Another nice thing is The
very short loading time and il
makes me wonder whether
Other companies can speed up
cassette loading time. AHigata
haven't put any options on the
title screen and there is no
joystick 'keyboard choice ftt's
joystick only) but this doesn't
detract from the game at all
Overall this is a brilliant shoot
em up which should bring hours
of pleasure to fans of this type of
game.

#> t Jove the good ole shoot
** w em ups so whet} Who
.^^J Dares Wins 11 tarn* m
you can be sure that I was one ot
the frrst to have a go The ftrst
thing that struck me about /r was
how stow it was- i almost felt like
my man didn't reeffy want to
bfow up everyone fa sight he
dfffnl seem to trudge around
with my urgency- The ftrst stage
is very easy and after a white f
got a bit stck of seeing tots of
Tittfe me/i die with their hands
Out$trwched in pure egony. One
thing t thought was very good

was that each outpost has a few
more men and an few extra
thmgs to cope with- ftfe planes
and m&n up agamst the 1 firtng
squad (very cruet} /thought this
game was a coot translation ot
the old 'Commando' arcade
gam& and a good choice if you
Mn 't wait for Bite's Commando
attempt

Presentation 69%
No keyboard option, but
onscreen presentation very
nice,

Graphics 89%

Plenty of variety in the
landscapes and lots of enemy
hacking about.

Sound 49%

Spot FX and a rather short ditty
from 'Bridge on the River Kwiu r
on the title screen.

Payability 94%

Although rather gory r kiNing the"
enemy is fun.

Addictive qualities 95%

Capturing the eighth outpost is d
highly deaireable fand difficult*
target

Value for money 90%

Average price for an excellent
shoot em up

Overall 91%

Just what the doctor ordered.

tTTTTTT-rr i : .... r r:

AMTIX March 1986 21

I f

i»

The IV
science fiction
series invades your
home computer

Earth is visited by
seemingly human
aliens...

These reptiles soon
reveal their ultimate aim
however., to take over
Earth and enslave its
population...

( *^r~ ■

H V

SPECTRUM 48K

#3T

SPECTRUM 48K

VfcHSMMH r ^BE2HI MDOUNXTTIV
U$ftYS Humlwkmi Oim

Tr*fc enqunvi wicdnv

...Your

mission as

resistance leader

Michael Donovan is

to seek and destroy

their Mother Ship

using all the skills

and weaponry at

your command.

All-action, multi -level
Arcade game for your
Spectrum & Commodore.

COMMODORE 64

AMSTRAD

Ocean Software LffM4

6 Cum* Scrwt Mnfw Ml S*tf

Tefcptwo* 06ieJ2»nT«kx bbWTOewmG

c 1MJ Wirrwr Bro* tnc All Refits Rncfvwi

k*!*t»f&-t : -i~> :(■■■■

>BE\yEWS<|

niHiHiiiHiiitii iiniimmifiniHimii

■ ■-■-■■""■-■-■ *«

HYPERSPORTS

& lissss:

Imagine, £895 cass

it ps at last , the long
awaited Hyper Spons The

Seme was a follow up to the
uge arcade (end much copied)
hit Track and Field. There is the
same system of scaring and the
seme gameplay still applies, In
each event you have a target
which you have to reach to
qualify If you don't meet This
requirement your game will
end. lf,on the other hand, you do
you'll automatically move onto
the next event.

Hyper Sports is a copy from
the arcade game barring only
one aspect, the pole vaulting
event Why thrs has happened is
unknown but six of the events
are there

The game kicks off with en
exhausting freestyle swimming
event This is similar in style to
the 110 metre hurdles in Trwck
and field where you bett along
hurlrng your joystick from side
to side. When the prompt 'bre-
athe' comes up press the fire
button, but don't leave it too
long otherwise your man will
slow up completely. Don't press
the fire button when your man's
head is under water because,
not surprisingly, this causes him
to cough and splutter and slow
up for ages (enough to cost you
the race!

Once the swimming is over
it's time to go outside for the
s keel shooting. Your man sits at
the bottom centre of the screen
with a double barrelled shotgun
in his hand- He aims the gun
automatically and it is repre-
sented by two floating boxes on
the screen As the skeet* move
through them press left or rig hi

lo fire one of the barrels. After
you have done the event his face
goes through a series of grue
some colour changes and his
eyeballs flash.

The horse vaulting comes
next. Your competitor automa-
tical Jy runs up to the spring-
board. When you reach it the
skill takes over — press fire
when you do and he bounces
onto the horse, wail until he's
doing a horizontal hand stand
then press fire button again and
wiggle the joystick around. This
causes him to somersault — the
more somersaults you do the
better your score -

If you manage to get through
that you h&v^ to turn the cas-
sette over and load the other
side. ,

After that spot of bother
comes the nice and relaxing
archery event, Pick your wind
speed with the fire button and
you're off. A target is winched
down the screen and you have
to decide whsn to release your
arrow and at what angle it
should be shot It all sounds
really complex but is in fact easy
to do

After the Robin Hood imper-
sonation comes the triple jump
Your man automatically runs up
to the line. and when he gets
there you have to press the fire
button trying to get as near as
possible to 4S degrees Repeat
twice for the step and the jump
It's Quite tricky getting the tim-
ing but once mastered some
huge jumps are possible.

Trie final event is weightlifting
where you choose the weight
you want by moving the joystick
left or right and pressing tire To
lift the weiqht try to mash the

joystick until the weightlifter
flashes. When he does press
fire, this 'snatches' the weight
above his head Keep on pum-
melling the stick until the
ju dges I i g h ts a 11 go wh ice (forgot
your wrist is being held together
by two ligaments and a b>
stringy flesh). If they go white
it's a successful lift.

Once that is over it's back to
the swimming Main only this
time afl the qualifying targets
have been upped,
Control keys: Joystick only

CRITICISM

-4 After the long, long watt
p|4 HyperSporTS finally arr

J ives — and what a disap

Kintment it is. The program
__§ a Cot of faurtsjor instance
there are no key options — a bad
presentation point. I played the

arcade game a halt of a lot and
this program fails to capture
much of the spirit of the original
The game plays badFy, same of
the events haven't been prop
erly looked at and am therefore
rate (triple jump, archery,
shooting} The graphics
are very disappointing, with
poorly Defined sprites, slo oo
W and wobbly scrolling and
pretty basic backgrounds They
should have been a lot better
considering the Amstrad's col-
our potent M Vie ar Kung Fu
was brilliant but this game ts
poor.

%j After the amazing We at
mm Kung Fu I expected great
!3 things of this, but Hyper
sports was disappointing. The
game has loads of faurts and
each event has one or two nig-
gles which add up to make it an
unenipyable game. The swim
ming is pathetic — if you waggle
the joystick really quickly the
program doesn't seem to be
able to handle it and the man
stops. The second event is
almost unplayable and shooting
down the sheets is nearly
impossible. How I qualified is a
mystery. The horse vaulting is a
joke — the man trundles up to

the horse at a slow rate and does
his somersault bit. Once again it
you go too fast your man stops
Spinning. After loading the next
three events (Hypersports was
crammed into the Spectrum,
why not an Amatradl the archery
turns up. All the angles are
wrong and there's no wind in-
dicator. The ne*t event, the
triple jump, is stupid. The man
runs up to the board and goes
into a s*ide and suddenly a foul
is celled. There's no indication of
where to jump from or anything.
This discipline suffers again
from the 'no reaction to joystick'
syndrome an it is hard to qualify

a On loading up t the first
1 event seemed to be at-
J right hut it was the

second event the sheet shoot-
ing, th&t matfy changed my
mmd. The joystick stmpty re-
fused to respond to Any of my
efforts Only after smashing
sway fat i white did f get any
stgn of fife at aft The graphics
ar® terrible — the animation on
the characters is abysmal not
more than two or three frames m
most cases.

Presentation 41%

No keys option and mult i loader

Graphics 39%

Poor sprites, feeble animation,
wobbly and slow scrolling and
poor use of colour

Sound 26%

One or two jingles and li*u> else

Payability 29%

If you've s#en the arcade game

thrs will not impress you.

Addictive qualities 22%
Too many niggles to make n tun

Value for money 21%
Too Itttle action for your
pennies.

Overall 30%
Vary diMppointtitg.

AMTfX March 1986 23

■ ■KiiiiirriiiiiiiaiiitiliillltttHlltliiiillitktriiiti
* ■■■ . f .MMfffM .........i.....

;;:smmnttnin

tMm&.

Melbourne House, £8,95
6MI

Author: Tony Mack and
Steve Lamb

Gyroscope puis you in a similar
surrealistic situation to The ar-
cade classic Marble Madness
The basic gemeplay is vary sim-
ple — you rate control of a
gyroscope with the task of get
ting from the starting post at the
top of the course 1 to the finishing
post at the bottom within the
allotted time. Each time th#
gyroscope topples K a life is lost.
The course is very strange,
presented with a surrealistic 3D
effect featuring tali gecm<
buildings, ramps and Sleep
slopes along end around whrth
you have to guide your gyro-
scope, The course also provides
a home for some rather strange
(and vaguely familiar) aliens
whose touch topples your
Spinner

There are five courses in Uie
run, each containing four
screens. When you complete
one screen the next part of the
course scrolls into view, rep lac:
mg the section you've just tra
versed. T>ie whole game is play
ed against a clock, which ticks
off the time relentlessly » you
try to complete each quartet of
screens. Completing each scre-
en earns you bonus points, end
completing a course o* four
screens earns you a bonus re-
lated to the amount of time
remaining on the clock

You begin the game with
seven lives in store, and pick up
a bonus life for each l .000 points
scored. If you fail to complete a
screen course within the time
limit the gyroscope runs out of

spm and a life is lost. If this
happen? you resume play 'ram
the spot you'd reached ai time-
out with the clock reset to start a
new run

There are some very thin cat-
walks between the bu if dings
and here the main danger ties If
you stray loo near the edge of a
construction or catwalk your
gyro will become unbalanced
Mid totter over — another life
gone. When this happens your
gyro is put back to the top of the
Mreen on which you dted. and
thus time is lost as well as a life.

H lakes time to gain proper
control of a gyroscope — once
you start moving in one direc-
tion it takes a while to slow
rJuwn, The beast will accelerate
down slopes, and constant
checks have to be made when
you trundle downhill to make
sure you're not going too fast —
if there's a sharp turn at the
bottom you could find yourself
in deep trouble, end run out of
road

Inanimate hazards on the
course complicate matters fur-
ther, and include glass slopes
(which send you spinning in alt
directions^ knobbly floors
(which makes control of your

Svro next to impossible!, red
iscs (which send you camp
fetal y out of control I and direc
tional floors (which act like
slopes only they're ffeth

The landscapes are very de-
viously created; starting from
relatively easy they get more
tricky Some of the difficult
courses contain thin catwalks,
horrendous slopes with tight
corners, holes in the floor and
combinations of all these with
the aforementioned ha/ arris —
hemg a gyroscope isn't all just
spinning around

CRITICISM

<-t I I looked forward to play
p| 41 tng this game,, but must

J confess fa being dimsp

pointed with it. The background
graphics on this are quite nice.
until they move that is. and then
they become all wobbly T he-
sound is rather grating, doesn't
really fit the game and seems
totally out of place with the
surreal landscape, The control
of the gyro is difficult end very
fiddly and a lot or the time it
seams to have a mind of rts own.
If you're a real Mar bit? Madness
freak then you might just get
some fun out of playing rt r but
for most others they'd soon find
themselves becoming bored
and frustrated

^%\ The whole concept of the
yM game is very simple but
™3 fiendishly addictive and
requires ages of practice and
dedication to get through the
whole game. Although the
game is very addictive I'm afraid
it is just toooooo 5 loon www for
my liking, Presentation is very
colourful and has obviously had
a lot of time spent on the shad-
ing and design of the mare
Every screen is scrolled up very
neatly but again much too slow-
ly, and results in the temporary
loss of your gyroscope - which
means you nave to keep an
eagle eve on your gyroscope
and the Surrounding scenery all
the time. The tune of the game is
nice but too slow and is played
all through the game resulting in
two mam problems' speed of
course is the mem one but you
also you lose the loss of life'
effects which were seen on the
other two versions. Overall
Gyroscope has some good looks
about it but suffers from not
enough sound FX and loo stow a
game.

x ^

Gyroscope is a step back
j from the otherwise high
„J standards of Melbourne
House's software Exploding
Rsfl was great. Fighting Warrior
not bad* and logically enough
Gyroscope rs ewfvl /r wouldn't
be so bad it it was original but
no r the game is merely a rip off
of the ancatkmt arcade game
Marble Madness* n seams to
have lost rather a tot in the
translation though, such minor
details as gamapl&y. attractive
graphics and man? other fea-
tures present on (he original ft
wouldn't even he fair to recom-
mend this release to ardent tans
ot the arcade varsion, their only
response would be disappoint-
ment r hope Melbourne House
(earn by their mistakes and
make the most of Rock and
Wrestle when it comes our

Presentation 64%

Nothing special and the tim#
between pressing the start
fouuon and starting la artfully
>ong

Graphics 81%

Pretty backdrops, although the
scr oiling m between screens is
rather wobbky

Sound 53%

A r ,»rher grating tune which goes
on and on.

Payability 46%

r>nt rolling the gyro r* highly
difficult especially witnkeys

Addictive qua lines 67%

And because of '
swiftly becomes highly
frustrating

Overpriced for what ft has to

Overall 67%

A dteappomrmg tonv*f«ion

24 AMTIX March 1386

.i.:.;is T * TTTT T T TT TT ' "' : '■

i l i i i l»A*iIni» * A fc***Ai

CASTLE ASSAULT

Blue Ribbon, £2,50 cass

This is a simple platform game
where the object fs to gel to the
top of the screen and calked the
bag of go id which resides there.
Now. as you can expect, the
owners of the castle haven't left
the gotd unguarded and the way
to fortune is a most treacherous
one and danger constantly rears
its ugly head —while all the time
a dock ticks away. If you fail to
reach your goal within the time
allowed you will lose a life, but
success will mean that the time
remaining is converted into lots
of lovety points

The screen i* split into five
floors and there are ladders
connecting each level- Your
character starts at the bottom
left hand corner of the screen
and has to make his way along
the bottom level to reach the
ladder, There are three pits in
the floor in which squat, toad
like creatures reside and your
man hat to jump over them
safely to be able to reach the
ladder. Be jolly careful, though,
because the creatures occasion-
ally leap up and can head but a

player leapingover the pit with
his legs open. The upshot of this,
if it happens, is thai you will lose
one of your five lives.

If you reach the ladder safely
then that can be ascended to the
next level, The hazard on this
level is a large hole. The only
way across this is to leap on and
off the moving platform which
shuttles backwards and for-
wards This is quite tricky, but if
Successfully negotiated you can
climb the next ladder up to the
Third floor This is identical to the
first and level four >s the same as
two. The final floor goes back to
the first screen formula end if all
three nasties are lumped then
the bag of gold is yours for the
taking.

After that you're moved onto
another screen, identical in
every respect apart from the
nasties This time instead of
being squat and loafhesorne
they re horribly frightening bfue
serpents which leap up end
down in the most horrifying
manner,

There are four prizes which
can be collected on each screen,
just simply run over them for a
massive frfty point bonus

Control keys: Z left, X: right,
SQUARE CLOSE BRACKET: up.
/: down, ENTER: jump

CRITICISM

I really cant believe that *
software company can
release such unambrtoui
material si this— the last time t
saw a game as bad as this was
on the Tandy TRS SO The single
screen is incredibly boring to
play and the only thing that
changes after completing a
screen hi the thing ies which

jump out at you The inlay says
fantastic animation and highly
realistic sound constitute this
truly stunning and imaginative
game 'which is rubbiib The
animation is two or three
frames mt the most and the
sound boils down to a few fore
torn parps If you want ir> buy a
game that even a PET owner
would laugh at buy (his

*kl CastfeAssauftt* the worst
£m game I've aver seen on
3 the Amstrad- I thought
these games had gone out with
the 2X8 l's, but obviously they

FULLTIME

PROGRAMMERS

REQUIRED

he post year has been very good for Palace
Software - our game Cauldmn has been a major
hit right round the worid -and we now hove o
heavy schedule of exciting new project* that we are
working on.

We art now looking for at least two new
programmers to join our smoft, friendly team, at our
Central London offices.

We are particularly looking for people who are
able to work in Z80 machine code in order to write for
the Spectrum or Amstrad, We ore interested in talking
m people with all levels of experience, it doesn't
matter whether you have only just left school, or
whether you have been writing games for ytars - we
warn to speak to you • provided that you have
mastered the basics of machine code.

These ore full-time positions wfth o salary based
on previous experience, tn addition o royalty is paid on
sates of games.

Write or phone Pete Stone and tell him about
yourself

275 PENTONVILLE ROAD, LONDON N1 9NL TELEPHONE 01-278 0751

AMT1X March 1986 25

bB£V4EM^l

are now corning back info fash
ion \ well Blue Ribbon Software
hope so ). The only good thing
that I can My about Castle
Assault is if is colourful • well not
thai colourful Well fts pretty
basic actually In the in lav it
say's that it's got brilliant am
mafiOfi and nighry realistic
sound effects - Well they're >V fc
mg The controls are very hard
to get used to and even when
you've mastered thern they
come up with some strange
results, So you'd better not buy
it 'CO* you'll be upset and you
might cry.

S Castle Assault is another
failure from Slue Ribbon.
I its graphks,sound and
colour are terrible, ft isn't inte-
resting to play end only peop/e
drunk, insane or stupid would
buy this, Save your pennies for
another game. I've J#e/i better
games for Vtc 20's and that's
saying something,

Presentation 59%

Very few options but was at least
attractive.

Graphics 17%

The graphics are interior to

those or other budget titles

Sound 19%

Flayer needs more imagination
than the programmer used

Payability 12%
A very lame game.

Addictive qualities 14%

Marginally more then none

Value for money 11%

Even if it was the same price at a
Manic tape there should 1 be a
discount for the inconvenience
Of having to wipe the game off.

Overall 8%

Ho (hanks

ZANIA

My rddin Software,
£14-95, disk only
Machine, 664 & 6128 only

Zama is a fully animated
adventure depicting the trials
and tribulations of Percy Veer in
his quest for a chest of gold
Percy (re you i has to explore his
strange world in order to find a
series of objects which will allow
him to enter areas which are
otherwise inaccessible Percy
can carry two objects at a time
and these are displayed at the
top of the screen.

Also displayed at the top of
the screen are three 'thermo-
meters' which contain different
information The first displays
strength which is depleted when
Percy is hit by low flying birds M
which there are several). The
second shows the current level
of anti-bird pills possessed by
Percy When these are taken,
Percy is spared the wrath oi the
airborne adversaries for a few
seconds. This supply is limited
however and should be used
wisely. Lastly there is a display
Showing the number of success
fully completed sections of the
game,

The rest of the screen is taken
up with the mam display, used
to keep an eye on Percy The
view is drawn in the Amsi red's
sixteen colour mode and usee
forced perspective techniques
so that when Percy walks away
from the screen he becomes
smaller and when he walks
towards it the opposite hap-
pens. Percy can pick up objects
just by standing next to them
while the player presses the fire
button Objects are randomly
situated and actually have no
logical bearing on the game.
Therefore determining which

26 AMTIX March 1986

object opens up a new section of
the game is really a matter of
trial and error.

When the right object is taken
\o ihe correct location Percy
stops moving while the disk is
accessed, Trie screen then
scrolls in the required direction
and the game continues The
landscape is very surreal with
fields, a castle and some air-
borne contraption which defies
simple explanation — it really
has to be seen . . . Speaking of
things in the air brings up the
point of the birds again these
constitute the main difficulty
Percy has to face as they not
only proliferate, but they rut oi i r
hero with alarming regularity
The consequences of this trave-
sty have already been
diskussed.

The gold does not appear to
be easy to find and as a helping
hand from the powers that be.
whenever Percy does some-
thing right, some of his energy
supply is replenished How big
the world or Zania is cannot be
easily determined as the game
has defeated attempts to ex
piore all the way through. Mow-
ever, a demo on the B side of the
disk reveals an area approxi-
mately sim screens large Watch
the birdie, .,

criticism

Never mind watch the
birdie, here we have a
game that proves dodos
extinct The attempt at
perspective fails miser -

■Mni
forced

ably as everything b ridiculous-
ly out of proportion, Percy looks
most uncomfortable and I think
I would feel the same if I had a
body like that. The game has
little in the way of internet
consistency and with the only
challenge coming from the

Kthelic birds, soon becomes
rtng The castle looks pretty
but everything else In the game

is really a waste of time Moving
around static objects is difficult
because of the poor way in
which the perspective is hand
lad and the objects that need to
be carried can rarefy he identi-
fied as anything other than a
blob Respite the wonderful
cover art, ink game is a mess.

^1 When playing the game,
£M you gel the impression
*] that with a little more
care, it could have been a really
exciting piece of software. The
way characters can keep moving
(although slowed down), while
the disk is being accessed, is
really very cfever, but the
aesthetics and logic of the game
are really depressing. Some
very surreal concepts are played
around with but these won't
make anybody happy when ihey
see what has happened to them.
At the end of the day, Zama fails
aa a good game. !n fact it all
looks rather silly. There's not
enough excitement or coher-
ency to make this worth buying.

aZania is the first really
huge disk-ba$ed graphtt
I adventure I've played an
the Amstrad* and at first looks
seems quite good with a small
arcade element - but Writer a
while I realised rt was another
fang boring, badly created gra-
phic adventure which could
have turned out well if a bit more
time had been spent on both
graphic end adventure ele-
ments. As a/7 adventure f found
hard to gat anywhere by logic
but easfer to fust ptck up some-
thing and see if it works, Lots of
good tdaas have been used but
not developed to their full pot-
MAW such as the scrolling
which is too jerky scroll about

four ptxe/s a time and the idea of
poking up objects to gain access
to another part - some objects
you find are very out of piece,
like telephones tn a held and
cups near the riverside All the
screens have a mce mix of col*
our but don't display enough at
once, whtch i$ a pity because
you don 7 get to see the affect of
such targe things as the castle -
which is very well drawn, The
flying sequence *s ludicrous and
just consists of an extension to
the walking area - walking tn mid
atr ts not my idi$a of a good
adventure. An above average
game for a large slice of your
weekly earnings

Presentation 65%

Nice cover Very kittle else.

Graphics 43%

Chunky, badfy proportioned and
poor choke of colours for green

Sound 19%

Mainly consists of deafening

Payability 44%

Slow and unresponsive control

leads to unrewarding play

Addictive qualities 34%

Would have been better if you
could nuke lh« birdies

Value for money 2B%

Relatively expensive way of
buying a disk you are only going
to reformat in the end

Overall 32%

One or two interesting plot
but apparlingry programmed

THtRB A*£ JO
AM THiRe A*t

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SKYFOX

Ariolasoft, £9 95, cass

Firstly, IsVs gel something sua
ight: This is not a Might simu
lation — rfs a fight simulation
Skyfox puts you in the riving

t of the latest pel fighter plane
defending a land of frightened
colonists from the marauding
forces of invading aliens. The
colony, or combat arena, is
represented ai a grid of 2S by 25
squares (sectors) with tanks,
enemy planes and mot her ships
to contend with. AM ad ion takes
place within this grid and should
you leave it, a lone sounds and a
warning massage is given.

You are given three lives' and
can choose one of five difficulty
levels (from the easiest (Cadet}
to the hardest (Ace of the Base)
and any one of hfteen different
scenarios (ranging from simple
tank and enemy plane training
to full scale invasions and
specific enemy invasion patt-
erns). Tank training pits you
against nothing but tanks and

fMane training — just planes
pla ne trai n ing three puis you u p
against planes and tanks I, High/
low {raining throws tanks at you
followed by planes, while com
bo training gives you both at
once A small invasion consists
of one mothership (a sort of
floating city) that must be des-
troyed before it launches eno-
ugh planes and tanks to destroy
your base Full invasion has
three mother ships attacking and
the massive onslaught has pbtl
Finally there are five different
attack strategies — Halo. Alamo,
Advancing WaJl P Chess and
Cornered — each following
specific patterns that must be
studied and understood. For
example. Halo puts you slap
bang in the middle of a ring of
advancing tanks and planes, and
requires you to escape as near
unscathed as possible.

The Skyfox plane is fully
equipped to cope with all situ-
ations lha! may arise (providing
the pi tot is up to it. of course), as
it comes fully armed with laser
cannon, heat seeking missiles
and guided missiles. The laser
cannon is act tv a led by simply
pressing the fire button and an
unlimited number of shots &f^
instantly at your disposal Heat
seeking and guided missiles on
the other hand, are in short
supply with only five of each
being provided and they must
be primed before firing, Shields
Surround the plane as Limited
protection but dimmish with
each direct hit against you Ion
higher levels, hitting the ground
weakens the shield heavily).
Shield strength, along with fuel
can thankfully be replenished by
landing at home base.

The speed of the plane is con-
trolled fry the keyboard Press-
ing numbers from nought to
nine gives you respective per

28 AMT1X March 1986

I centsge speeds (eg pressing 1
gives you ten percent of max-

' bum speed) and slight adjust

J mentsof lOOmpti can bemade.

| Sudden bursts of speed are also
possible by engaging lha
plane's afterburners but this
proves expensive on fuel, so
careful use of this function
should be made. There are indi-
cators either side of the com mi
panel to show fuel and shield
status along with numerous
other things such as speed,
altitude, current compass head-
ing (in degrees), your current X/
V coordinates, a dock (to Show
elapsed time since launch),
number of heat seeker s, guided
missiles and a radar scanner
display
At any time during the game

search of aliens to kill, there is an
auto pilot function When there
are no enemy targets to be seen,
activating the on -board com-
puter controlled auto plot
Speeds your craft to the vicinity
of the nearest enemy. If all the
enemy have been destroyed,
you are taken back to home base
inste;ii i

CRITICISM

>1<

Skyfox is one of the
colourful flit plane shoot'
em upt I've played on the
Amstrad, but It tacks one
important lector - SPEED The
'Skyfox' plane is a very well
equiped combat plane, and has
a very neat cockpit with all

you can call up your base com-
puter to keep track of what's
going on (providing your home
base hasn't been destroyed 1 1
Thfs computer allows you to
check on your score (plus a
summary of how many colon-
ists are living/dead, how many
tanks, planes and motherships
have been destroyed etc), check
on shield status lor each instal-
lation (and which, if any. are snii
functional) and plan your tactics
on a tactical map (a simplified
map of what is where). You can
also zoom up on a particular
sector to see exactly what is
then?.

To cut out needless and
monotonous flying around in

you'll ever need to have in ft
One nice touch of the equip-
ment in your plane are the range
of weapons r from good old
bullets to heat seating and
guided missiles which believe
me come in very useful if you
find yourself surrounded by
enemy planes and tanks, a com-
mon occurence for me. I found
the Skyfox plane vary manoeu-
vrable, even if it was very slow
reacting and moving, and gat it
to do kits of things from diving
to landing which was very
useful because, as the inlay says
The Stow Don't Live'. One good
feature of Skyfox ts that you can
advance from the mere tanfc
training exercise to a "massive

onslaught'- (who wrote these
inlay descriptions 7 } Every plane
and tank is well detailed, usually
requiring a very accurate hit to
destroy tt, which kept me at
Sky fax for quite a while, (in fact
the only thing that stopped me
was the famous WII power
cuts),

t really enjoyed my fi*st
few games of skyfox
mainly because I always
found myself with something to
do ail the time t was playing.
Skyfox is a most enthralling
game with lots of colour and
complementing sound effects
that add to the whole feel of
flying a fast Combat armoured
superplane. I enjoyed my first
few games of Skyfox but found
rt h s lasting appeal very short
indeed and this made the price a
bit too high fgr an average
game The game idea is good on
the surface but unfortuanatfy it
has not been explored enough -
perhaps there should have bean
a few missions as on £ht& or
something of that nature. The
speed of the game ! found much
too slow for any really fast
combat scenes, and slow reac-
ting when in a sticky situation *
suppose If you really tike this
type of game then it's great but I
prefer something wnigh has
more than rust nice
presentation

3 Skyfox is an vxci'tfpnt
gamett is not hke Fighter
J Pilot but ts much harder

th&n most f fight simulations ft
has Vwrfe of 6pf tarns from whtch
to choose and tots of buttons to
fiddle wound with to incrm*
your chances of success The
graphics aregrp&t but Shroff wrth
J bit Of a jerkhuT Th&n nrtrrVrm; j,
perfect One smatf complaint is
the sound whtch ts not ** good
as it could be. H's one of the best
games of its type and is wetf
worth buying. Butte warned tt's
fat from easy so CNQCXS
AWAY

Presentation 81%

All in all very neat with
good options.

Graphics 88%

Colourful and effective but tend

to be slow.

Sound 78%

Nothing very special

Payability 88%

It's a lot of tun but the speed

tends io make it drag a little

Addictive qualities 84%

Could be more enduring than a
flight si mutator

Value for money 79%
One pound over the norm.

Overall 83%

An attractive game which win
appeal more to the strategist*
than the fry boys

CONTRAPTION

Audiogenic, £7.95 cass

C&ntrapttQn Stars an ageing
Mad Professor who has. for
some totally unknown end
mysterious reason, a machine
chat eats golden apples. The

Rrofes&or is somewhat proud of
is creation and to stop it from
diminishing and dying he de-
cides lhat some golden apples
mutt be found- You may think a
staple diet of golden apples is a
little bit impractical Co say the
least, well it's worse than that
since the machine witl only eat
square one*. Luckily the pro-
fessors back garden just hap-
pens to be packed with such fruit
and even more luckily each
section of his garden contains
four apples, just enough for a
byte sure snack. Another prob-
in writ the professor'* m*dl
me is that it isn't too efficient at
converting its lunch into energy
and there's only a limited
amount of time before it'll need
another lunch. Still the pro-
fessor loves his machine so and
ill) take a toe more than the
spaggy plants, very nasty fish
and deadly bees to deter him
from collecting the golden fruit.
The trouble is it's not really thtf
Professor's problem, it's yours.
In Contraption you must control
the deranged scientist through
his fruit laden garden to feed the
gold lust of his machine. The
general format is the age old one
of the platform game' The Pro
feaaor can stroM left and right
and also jump in those direc-
tions. His garden is quite a
deadly place populated with
many a bea sty abte to trounce
the ageing academic. Only three

lives are supplied which makes
your task all the harder Each
section of the garden takes up
the whole screen span from a
section down the right hand
screen. Here is contained a
Slowly sinking limer showing
how long fill the machine cops it
through lack of food. Through-
out the garden are the four
apples needed for the machine.
These are usually placed in the
most awkward places possible,
calling For careful control of the
Professor. Also somewhere on
the screen is a closed door , Once
the apples have been collected
the door automatically opens.

Travelling through the door
takes you into the machine's
room, an evil looking bea^t thai
is all pistons and valves A few
jumps up to the top of the screen
allows the Professor to drop the
apples into the machine's fun-
nel Extra bonus is given for time

toft

lll l ll l l lill llMlB

After that you are automatic-
ally transported back to the next
section to get yet another four
tortuously placed apples Con-
trol keys: Z P X left, right and
SHIFT for jump.

CRITICISM

B Contraption is a beauti-
fully designed game with
lots of smoothly gni
mated colourful sequences to
delight even the most boring
shoot 'em up freak. The game
screens are littered witfi all
kinds of little doobries. all of
which might come in useful. The
idea of the game is very Mantc
M/fier-tah but contains some
very sly objects to over come —
such as platforms which move
skkrways, up and down and
sometimes disappear. I thought
Contraption was much harder
than Manic Miner and much
more fun to play, despite onry
having a small amount of scr-
eens to get past The game re-
quires a lot of patience and time
to complete due to it's difficulty
and design If you're the plat-

form type and have fert a brt left
out lately than feed your pangs
of desire and get Contraption
Great fun at an average pnee

+%\ Though |ust a simple plal-
y{| form game at head. Con
i mm \ trap! ton has to be the
most sophisticated game of its
type. The graphics are truly out-
standing, especially considering
they are only four colour. The
extra detail available m mode 2
is used to excellent effect. Even
though some of the larger
Shapes f ticker, the movement is
very realistic indeed. The feel of

Gravity is very neat indeed,
ompleting even the first screen
is a battle though I feet if a a
challenge many pi a t for mists
may well enjoy F

This w«*y platform and
tedders game h mafly
great' fun. The graphics
are realty amazing and took
brilliant m colour. The game
itself is just a sort of Man it M iner
clone but t$ brilliant fun to play.
The time limit make things hard
but the challenge fust gets the
adrenattn fi&wtng and makes it
alt the more enjoyable Con-
traption is a truly brilliant game
that I can recommend to
anyone.

Presentation 89%

Lovely title screen wrth

attr active attract screen though

ft takes a few too may

Graphics 91%

Beautiful and extremely
imaginative use of colour and
detail make Contraption about
the prettiest game of its type

Sound 72%

Pleasant sound effects Though
nothing outstanding.

Payability 86%

AH the usuaf instant appeal that
most platform game* carry

Addictive qualities 81%

The biggest attraction is the
'what's on ine next screen?"
Curiosity and quite an attraction
it is too .

Value for money 88%
A little below the norm but the
game at ends out from the
crowd.

Overall 85%

A great game that will certainly
appeal to platform freaks but
shou Id also g ive quite a bit of Joy
to any amster gamester.

AMT1X March 1986 29

r\-**nm Cnfkiin

rib ir nut-*

Ocean House 6 Central Street Manchester U

@m HTh®

M25NS Telephone 061-832 6633 Telex 669977

Master £2.99 c

Author: David Jones

on by '

i ii ll 5 ll iliii l"llllsl

viU

TTvvi is

v ja

As a continuation of his adven-
lures in Finders Keepers, Magic
Knight now reappears in e new
Masterlronic release, Spe//-
bpurrd Part of the new Mad
Games range, Spettbound is a
true graphic adventure-

Magic Knight's mentor and
leather. Gimbel ihe Wizard, has
accidentally managed to bind
you and seven other characters
within a summon spell. The
spell was intended to be an aid
to Gimtiars quest for better
tasting rice pudding. Due to a
Slight typographical error which
occurred when the incantations
were translated from ancient
English to slightly less ancient

English, things went a little bit
wrong. Now our hero fa trapped
within a strange and unfamiliar

.. :.

.;--::

land with a bunch of people
from different slices of history
Being the brave good guy
among the collection of oddilies
it's down to Magic Knight to
return the various people to
their respective time/space
zones First on your list of major
things to do is to release Gimbel
from a self inflicted white out
spell but as in Any good ad-
venture, there's a number of
smeller tasks to perform first

Though Spefthound looks
very similar to any run of the mill
left/rioht and jump game, pre*
Sing fire soon shatters that illu-
sion. Based around a window-
ing system by the name of
W-mdGvwision P fire opens up the

primary menu replete with a lisi
of options available to Magic
Knight A pointer controlled oy
the up and down keys highlights
various options as you move it
about, and fire takes you to l he
sub rnenu for that option

When you change to a sub
window it opens up over the
main one and a poinier appears
on the Sub directory Using this
system, the amount of options
available to you easy equals
those within many text adven
tures. As you progress through
the game the options and eci
ions open to you change, tllow
ing Mricjic KnighT to take arjvan

Mj)x

MaPara

I M 1

fflffi

■HMPF*

* I * ^ -ja^mI

,II11IU»LI

fl*****

[TV.

:— t— 'frtfflm

■:!;»:!::: i:: ::},: ::i::::j::::i n : ::;::::;:::{:::

:::h:::i::-:t::::i:;::i::::I:i::i:;::l::

i tope of any new objects or
powers he may have acquired
Extra options Are highlighted in
white

Apart from using the menu
system, you can move Magic
Kmghl around the screens with
left, rrghi and jump. Obviously
Magic Knight has developed
some pretty impressive leg
muscles since his last game:
jump causes him to take a real
mega leap skywards

Any object or character you
may come across can be exam-
ined via the main menu- While a

character is being examined, a
smalt screen with a graphic of
the character under scrutiny
appears. Such details as str
ength, happiness, stamina, spell
power and food level are rip
tailed. You can even examine
yourself; very handy, since
being a brave knight expends
strength quite a bit and if it
reaches zero the games is over,
When it comes to examining an
abject, e graphic of the object
under scrutiny is displayed to
gather with details an the four
different attributes possessed
by objects: weight, magic
power , read and drop status.
The read and drop information
tell whether you can drop the
object you've acquired or use
the read function on it to glean
information. The weight reading
can be critical as welL The more
the knight carries, the quicker
his strength is sapped If Magfc
Knight is too weak then he won't
be able to pick up heavy objects -

There's a large strategic ele-
ment to the game. The other
captives of the summon spell
wander about in a bit of a daze
and need looking after. You
need to command characters 10
do things for tbe«r own good,
and you have to get hold of the
wand of command before the
option, which allows you to tell
people what to do, appears on
your menu Since the characters
don't have the sense to fend for
themselves, it's up to you to tell
them to go away, eat. drink, and
be happy.

If your fellow captives aren't
kept in good health they may
well die The characters also
have to be kept happy or its
likely they will get in a brt of a
sufk and be loathe to obey any
commands thai may be issued
to them. Other people may well
foe in possession of objects you
need but. understandably, they
like to keep hold of anything

iht'v've got- Command a char'
acter lo go to sleep and anything
they have can be easily pilfered
Whan a character is asleep it's
also possible to give them
something they wouldn't nor-
mally accept.

The domain in whwch the spell
of summoning has trapped the
cast of characters is spin into
seven floors, each spanning
around seven or eight screens.
To travel between floors the
K nig ht has to use the N ft f ou ncf at
the extreme left hand side Of
each floor.

Some objects can be found
which can't actually be used —
they do offer clues, however,
and the clue they contain can
usually be liberated with the
read function- A few totally use
less, though amusing, objects
litter the place as well. Upon
Starling, Magic K night's only
possession is an advert: read
this and you're informed thai
David Jones created Sppfibound
and suggests going out and
buying Ftnder? Keepers,

Another addition 10 the
Knight's worries is there's only
48 hours to complete his task
Oh dear. Better get going . . .
Control keys: AfZ up, down N/M
left .right and Space for fire.

CRITICISM

1,1.1

j Spe/tbound is a type of
b|«| follow up to finders
Kwpt?rs but I think rt is
quite a kit better. H uses a
'window menu system' which
means when you want lo do
something you press the Fife
button and obtain a U\t ol
commands, hs graphics aren't
as good as Finders Keepers but
close The game is fun to play
and does not need much
explaining to get started, ft is
worth buying, is not too difficult

to plav r and is yet another good
game from Mast ertronics Keep
up the good work

frtf An excellent game from
y^y Maste dromes who are
I „J renowned for iheir excel
lent value budget software. This
one is a bit more upmarket but is
still a good buy At f ? 99 it was
easy on the pocket as you can
pay up to ten pounds for a piece
of software of the same stand
ard. The game's musical content
was good but it gets frustrating
as time goes on. The graphics
are excellent with a unique
menu /viewing system which
a Mows you to do almost any-
thing. It makes you want to sii
there for h6urs trying to Hoi
out and is a worthy edition lo
anyone's collection

3 Even though Speifhound
' is just a budget release,
; — J the style and presentation
of this grphte adventure is truly
innovahve Despite totafy joy-
stick based this release has tt's
WOtS firmly based m adventure
Yhr* windowing system is very
easy to use indeed* cteverfy
hinting you in the right dtre<
by dynamically altering th wtn
dows contents. Graphically th
ings an* a tittle colourless, the
use of mode one not being the
imaginattve t have ever seen
f ven so, Spellbound is a truly
outstanding game and should
appeal to both arcaders and
adventure players alike

Presentation 98%
Vary clever help available
throughout the game.

Graphics 88%

Bit bland but very nice overall

effect

Sound 84%

Really grating tune but the
sound effects compensate.

Playabilrty92%

Yes. lots and lots and Pots (shut
up Julian — £d}

Addictive qualities 97%
Much more addictive than
writing these one liners

Value for money 98%
What can one say.

Overall 93%

You will be glued to this game
not Stuck with ft

AMTIX March 1586 33

Imagine £8 95 cats

There have been all sons of
•port* simulations written for

Ira Amstrad, but nobody has
been brave enough to tackle the
fine art of table tennis. WeH f not
until now that is. Pttig P&ng a
single player emulation of the
fast and furious indoor bat game
and is played abiding to the
rules of the real thing To win- the
game you have to outscore the
computer opponent by being
the first 10 score eleven points,

When you start the game you
first have io select the level of
the computer opponent from
the five provided. Level one is by
far the easiest and n played at a

Quarter of the way up the screen
(nave a look at (he screen shot if
you re contused) it's always
played from this viewpoint; and
there are no change of onds
during the game, Both you and
the computer's ScOttatong with
other information [whether the
ball is in or out etc) is shown
either side of the table.

Crowds Nenlc both side* of ihe
screen — the right hand people
cheer the computer whilst the
crowd on the left hand side are
ardent supporters of the human
player. A nice feature is a little
monkey which sits amongst the
human player supporters. If you

Controlling (he bat and hitting
the ball isn't very difficult, and
only takes a little practice. The
most important aspect, though,
is timing e shot correctly and
doing that successfully is the key
to the game

The computer automatically
tracks the ball as it is hit over the
net towards you and makes sure
the bat is always behind it All
you do is select the type of shot
you'd like to return which is
done by moving the joystick in a
certain direction as the ball
reaches the bat- For example:
moving the joystick right will
give a flow return, and depend

n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 h

1 I i 1 1 1 1

i: 1 til *

relatively slow and leisurely
pace Level five, on the other
hand, is played at the tame
speed as the orientals play and
the computer returns almost
unstoppable shots with even
more unstoppable shots.

The game is viewed from
above and behind the base line
of the table with your bat
roughly positioned about a

34 AMTIX March 1986

lose a game he cries, but If you
win he jumps up and down,
claps and generally disports
himself in a very happy fashion

Rather than have big, fatty
figures obscuring the view Ima-
gine have developed a novel
approach to the game — only
the bat and the hand that holds it
am* wen, allowing more of the
table to be viewed.

ing on how early or late the ball
is nit will result in it veering to
the leh or right of the table Itthe
joystick is moved to the left then
a fast drive will occur, whilst
forward gives a smash {al-
though this option should only
be used if the ball has been
lobbed, otherwise it'll wind up in
the net).
The bat is held right handed ry,

which poses a problem if the

opponent puts a shot to the right

of the court If this happens then

keeping thn fire button pressed

\ down will put the bat m back-

[ hand mode allowing shots to be

I returned without missing the

Lit-!-

At the stan of any game the
human player has To serve first
Again, timing is the key to
success and perseverance reaps
tot own rewards To throw in*?
ball up m the air the joystick has
to be pushed forward, and then
a shot can be played in the con
venhonal left/nghl way When
five points have been scored
and every five points after that.
the serving changes over
There's a time limir io each
service (seven seconds* and if
the ball isn't served in that time
then a point is awarded to ihe
opponent

If the game is lied at ten points
all then a tie break situation
comes into effect The first
player to get two points in front
of the opponent wins.

The game has an arcade scor-
ing facility as wel I as ta We tennis
scoring — every time a player
hits the ball ten points are
awarded allowing you to build
up big scores. If you manage to
beat a level then you automa-
tically start another game, only
agam si the next level of
opposition.

'I'tit;

are few and far between
on the Amstrad, and It's
nice when a particularly good
one comes along M» Pong
play* extremely well and prove*
to o« * very enthralling and
addictive game. The computer
opponents are alt well bal-
anced, level one rs quite easy,
but level five plays en unbe-
lievably fast and challenging
game The graphics are really
nice and there are some really
nice frills like the brilliant title
screen Beetle out lei the shops
and buy rt now

As sport simulations go,
Ping Pong h#s one of the
most refreshing appro
aches yet. Beautifully designed
and outstandingly presented
this has to be Imagine s best yet
for the machine- Though Che
disembodied hands seem a mite
bit strange at first, ycHi soon get
used to it It's a great idea
anyway, the playing area is
hardly obscured at all by the
whole body of the two players. A
match against the computer is
no easy thing either, the diffe-
rent levels are cleverly graded
and even the most skilled ping

ponger should be able to find
some sort of challenge. Overall,
an excellent release That looks
destined to become e classic,

3 Another great game from
Imagine and ait squeezed
mto 79k - Am&itngl P*op

Pong is one of the most realistic
sports Simulations I've pfayed
and is a con vtneing repfice o t ft. 1 * »
Arcade g&me The presentation
is very nice but could have teen
improved with more options -
bur if is supposed to be an ar-
cade copy, the whole feet of the
garnets very realistic and gives a
good feef of the good ofe' days
of praying tahf&-tennis in the
garage - But of course without
the balls all over the tto&r One
very good part of the game is the
level options which oh cope tor a
whofe range from the bad be
ginner to the Desmond frfe r S a
famous TT player f Douglas type
pro. The game is a bit shortened
with playing up to &nhf 1 1 points
and onfy one chance to get
you rt! serve right Overall this is
an excellent game, but with a
few things missing: two-player,
practice

Presentation 90%

Really whi/zo title screen and
level select.

Graphics 91%

Lots of greet colour and nicety
drawn graphics

Sound 85%

Jolly jingles and super sound ol
the crowd

Payability 95%

Yes. lots and lots and lots,

Addictive qualities 95%

Trying to beat level hve certainly
keeps your joystick warm.

Value for money 91 %

For a quality game like thti its
well worth ihe money

Overall 94%

An excellent game which will
have you pinging and ponging
for a long time

111111 '"t

AMTIX March 1986 35

On June 21 1948. a group of distinguished scientists witnessed the birth of the
wor id's first stored program computer, pictured here. Built mainly out of war surplus
thermionic valves, it proved to be far too large for the room in which it was to be
housed and so overflowed into the corridor, it was known as the Manchester Mark 1 .

SOW— nearly 30 years later- the city which saw the birth of
the computing revolution is about to host an event dedicated
to a range of machine no bigger than typewriters and costing
only a fraction of the price, yet Infinitely more powerful than
their giant grandaddy.For this is to be the . . . pi&cT

NORTHERN

The first two Amstrad Computer
Shows played to packed houses
in London. Now the event comes
to Manchester, and with even
more to offer . . .

• New hardware and software
products galore.

• Special offers from all the
leading companies.

• Free helpful advice from

the Amstrad experts.

If you own an Amstrad - or are
just thinking about buying one
- this is the show you cannot
afford to miss!

AiMian

^^COMPUTB

EEEa

(jumbo*? Pubtteaaom

New Century Hall,
New Century House,
Corporation Street,
Manchester M60 4ES

Saturday, March 22- 1 Oam to 6pm
Sunday. March 23 - 10am to 5pm

Avoid the
queues!

Get your ticket
in advance and

SAVE£1
AHEAD!

■J Advance ticket order [ ■<

Please mppK

□ AdukfcJiA«£21w«£l) £

[ Uf*« lMttduPHAiiiiHuten e

| Cheque tfndoMd m*de

ToieiE
to

FUbfcctfBGftiLEd
□ Pl***iM*rnv

i t-

AdmJuJon of i

£3 ( adults} a {under J6*J

-J * - - ■ *— * i— I

N«- Onlury Hell. M*™. hntt^r
Mmh 22 23

Fo#l tv Arr**in*t Hhtn* T\rkrU,
hwopo Mcm-M-. 6B Chemier Hood,
f-fcnr! Grow, Stockport SK7 SrVY

PHONE ORDERS fUMQ SHOW HOTLWfc 061*3* TO1
fVow quote metftf cord number and fuB «**w # Hrjf aut i

>BEV.IEWS<i

mi i mi inn miimii hi inn ii

PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT

Britannia software, £7.95
Ml

"TV doesn't only serve as inspir
at ton for odd arcade garne r like
Str&et Hawk (ho hum fT This new
qui* game is based on thai noisy

guesses depending on whether
he considers the next card in the
row will be higher or lower than
the previous card — excitable
screaming is optional. Now, if it
should be your turn and you
guess incorrectly then your op-

there are more cards. Before you
scream out 'higher' or 'rower'
you must decide how much you
would like to gamble, If you are
wrong you tose your stake If
you are right your state is
doubted. You continue lit iNa
way until you have turned over
all of the cards, the sue of the
priie being equal to the number
of points you have accumulated

CRITICISM

,1.

Play Your Curds Right is
the sort of TV show that
many enjoy watching but
would prefer not To advertise
the fact I can't help feeling the
n inipi/ter version may enjoy the
same fate. There's no mistake
the game tan be quite a lot of
fun, even though we are not
dealing with super prizes and
big, beaming Bruce smiles ft all
hangs on the turn of a card —
even if the what r* a few elec-
tronic points this can still pro
vide quite a buzz So, while this
bn J t the greatest of games on
the Amstrad it remains suffi
ciently close to the original to be
captivating to the right sort of
mind I would imagine that

and addictive Bruce Forsyth
game produced by London
weekend Television.

There cant be many of you
who haven't seen at least a little
bit of this long running qui*
game. You know the one. The
studio audience (and perhaps
the family if they are the excit-
able type!, rise out of their seats
shouting 'Higher' or 'Lower' as a
pretty Lady turns ov^t a series of
giant playing cards. Of course
the difference with *he computer
version ps that it lacks both the
audience and Mr Forsyth — but
it's unlikely that any Amsters
will suffer from withdrawal
symptoms

Once the game has loaded
and the picture of Bruce has
van j shed you will be asked how
you want to play the game. You
can opt to play against the
computer, or against another
human, in which case you must
type in both your own and your
opponent's name. After that rts
straight into the game. This
starts with something along the
lines of TOO men were asfcen if
they rhouoht they should open a
car door lor a lady". Depending
on who r s tu m i t is to pi ay r one of
the competitors must guess the
percentage of men responding
with 'yes The other competitor
then has to say whether he
thinks the actual figure is higher
or lower then that guessed.
Whoever wins that section goes
on to have first crack at the
second section

Two rows of cards are shown,
one for each player. The first
card in each row >S shown face
up, its value revealed to the
world at large. The first player
simpty has to enter a series of

n o
O O

TOU V

\M «4rr H n#a wivt tdkai

ftitl aMj'l *tft fM asm*:- tt Mr a;ft i rtlitlMt lift •** U*» *

t*t* j*l faff in ilpP

I it-il <:#«r m law rt»t«r i m t iti prm ftttU *

ponent has a go. The player who
manages to guess correctly
along hi s row oT cards wins that
round, A player must win two
rounds out of three to pass on to
the final section for the big
gamble,

Thrs is the section where
Bruce usualry gets very excited,
after all there is so much money
at stake — weH there would be in
the television game, but this
lime you ere only playing for
points. You begin this section
with 200 of the things and you
are led over to one corner of the
studio to face a sort of pyramid.
On the bottom row there are 4
rants — the first one face up —
the second row has another 3
cards, the third has two cards
leaving one card at the very top.
This round is played in a similar
way to the last round, except

most would consider Mr For
syth's absence as a plus.

Qui; games seem to be
quite popular on com
puters these days, com
putensed version of well known
television games have the ad
vantage in that they are well
known and welt understood But
the major element of any qui/
game should be thai tests an
individuals knowledge In this
respect Ptay Your Cards Right
fails because the questions are
so silJy — they don't require
intelligent answers — only

fuesses I mean, do you really
now how many women (hint
that they should leave their
husbands if they are awarded a
black eye from him? The mott
annoying thing is that even after
both players have had a guess,
the exact percentage is not re-
vealed All in all this is a pretty
boring game,

3 Here wv go, another
1 television Qua copy / am
_J having a tot of difficulty
makmg my rnmd up shout thfS
game, for starters the tdea of
guessing whether the nettt card
will be higher or tower is qutte
fun — the htghffvw machines
am qufie popular m the arcades
— hut at feast they pay out
rnon&y ff ¥®u i*w. Now i under*
Stand that it would have been a
tittle hit d*tf*cu# to have arr-
anged a payout from your Ams
trad but even so the game couid
have been made a lot more
interesting Once you have
played a round and collected a
tew hundred points therm isn't
anything else to do but go back
and so it $gatn The graphics are
simplistic and the Questions are
presented tn 80 column mode
which can be uncomfortable tor
those with colour monitors

Presentation 39%

Apart from tha lerriNe picture of
Bruce on the loading screen

* t. ^.M dki ' h ■ ■ di^ta m^mm bk!.^ .a. urn. dki ■<

tneni a iHJirmiy fHwaworrny.
Graphics 48%

Very ordinary wtth nothing
imaginative added.

Sound 30%

I su ppose eradrt should be given
ft>r not making us sit through
repetitive and bland jingle* (the
the television vers ion does

Payability 42%
Very much a matter of

Addictive qualities 40%

Needs a lot more depth, you
quickly gat the feeling that you
have oone it elf before

Value For Money 33%

Would be well worth it N the
game paid out,

Overall 49%
LOWER

AMT1X March 1986 37

l»IIHi>llHi i iilltiltll IJfe«frl*ft«i ft* ft SI

THINK I

Ariolasoft, £8.95 cass

Converting board games lo run
on computers was quite popular
not SO long back, with old fav-
ourites like Monopoty, Scrabble
and Ouedo springing instantly
to mind, Anoiasoft's Think is a

computerised board game
which borrow* many ideas from
the Connect four format, M«nd
you, TTwn* doesn't strktly
adhere to the Connect four
format and the computet is used
to provide emra features which

couldn't be included in a board
on.

Upon loading one is pres-
ented with an icon driven menu,
and using this menu you can
sated the various options laid
open to a player Using the
keyboard or joystick you can
move an arrow up or down until
it aligns with an icon r press the
fire and a multitude of options
are shown.

There are six mam option
icons wh ich i nd ude : - one or two
player games, a tutohaf or prob-
lem mode, different speeds and
playing styles and colour of
counters.

The game is played on a
fQuiie playing board wiuth is

divided into a Six by six grid You
can either challenge a mend, or
\t you have none then the com

38 AMTIX March 1986

puier wil* provide a tireless and
intelligent opponent — itself, If
you do find even at the lowest of
the seven levels of difficulty it
(the computer} ts still hammer-
ing you i hen the tutor option can
be selected end the computer
will give yuu a little coaching.

If you know nothing about
Connect Four then you won't
know the object of the game.

which is to complete a consec-
utive (trie of four of your coun
te*3 either horizontally, verhc
airy or diagonally. Each player
has to shunt ttie*r counters onto
the board from either the left
and/or bottom of the screen,
displacing and moving all the
counters one square along. The
f rfck of the game is to be able to
foresee the consequences of
each move and plan ahead, rat-
her like chess.

During play you can access
the icons to the right of the

Slaying board. To do this you
old the joystick down lor the
equivalent key) until a prompt
sounds and the top left icon is
highlighted You can now use
the game icons which include
quit, show last move, force
computer to move, get last
move, computer suggested
move and the back icon which
will take the game beck over the
last two moves At the end of a
game you can review the whole
sequence by accessing the dec*
icon.

Once you've played a game
you may want to use the other
icon options to the right of the
main menu These are accessed
I n the norma I way and al low you
to look at the rules and watch a
demo game, load or save from
tape or disk, or you can return to
the game proper.

The game has a multitude of
options, and allows you to play
different variations oh he game
Speed Think is one of them, and
is played with a small time
for each move. M the time Mm it
runs out then the opponent gets
to make their move

In fl/rt/ Thmk you 8«t a time
limit in which you must finish
the game. K you run over the
time set, your opponent wins.

In Tutor Mode the computer
allows you thtee attempts to
make the best move and points
are scored depending upon how
soon you get it right Three
points for the first, two for the
second and one for the third
After this the computer moves
for you. At the end of the game

the compute* gives a percen
taoesci

There's also a Problem Mode
where you can either choose
one of six preset problems and
try to solve them, or set up your
Own problem tor the computer
Or another person tg solve

CRITICISM

B Ariolasoft don't half
come out with some
strange games * Thmk
being on* of the strangest to
far. The presentation is really
very polished, featuring recog-
nisable icons and lots of options
which add a M to the game I
found the computer a worthy
opponent — but only just 1 The
gam* always tended to end up
in the same situation after m few
moves which meant that once
you'd worked out the right,
formulae for beating the com-
puter on each level a win is
guaranteed every time One
very strange option was a com-
outer help bulb which I suggest
you do not use unless you're in
dire trouble, more often than
not it suggested the wrong
move and I ended up losing the
game, which isn't much fun
attar a fifteen minute game.
Thmk certainly makes you do
just that, and kept me at it for
ek>ng time, I suggest you buy ft

for a welcome change from
bashing your joystick for hours
on end Get your thinking caps
on 1

J can I really confess to
being any sort of board
games addict, and ihero
fore regard this program with

hftout ti's that bad. Sttfl n'sm
exceffont ganw which should
$ppeaf to anyone who '$ gotten
bot&d of shooting things

ndifference, Still, it's ofoviouary
got a lot of appeal Co anybody
who likes these sort of games,
especially with its multrtude of
Options. The computer plays
reasonably well, and if takes a
little practise before any Thm*
ing proficiency is attained The
graphics are fine, although the
counters do go all wabbly when
Ihey're shunted onto the board.
The sound is really bad though,
a sort of throttled squark which
makes your foot want to meet
the Amstrad's speaker at hiah
velocity H you're after an alt-

ernative thinking program then
this one seems pretty good

3fm # nM/ board games
ff&nd t and f think Thii -
~ — I bnfhant r just what r've
been tQokmg for? Thsre are tots
of Options and g&me variations
to puiite over if you do get
bored of it whtch to htghty
unfixefy The graphics swf the
game very weft, &nd alt the icons
are excetfentfv drawn so even
thick whites can see what they
rne&n. The sound ts a btt awfuf
though, and t wish tt had bttn

Presentation 94%

Ftaally jolty icons an* fmgs
toadi of options

wMi

Graphics 71 q o
Nothing to go ape over, but
functional to the game,

Sound 20%
AAAAAAAAAQGGH

Payability 86%

There fl re plenty of option*
which give large playing
potential

Addictive qualrttM 85%

Once you've beaten you r
computer and friende you etfi
always try the other options

Value for money 76%

A bit expensive, huf

good value tor board fiend*

Overall 83%

An excellent alternative think
em up.

Whirl ten fm find ■ ****** iambi Allien if n/cndn nnd adttnture played within A* iwfiicete maim
el am I54> hi m coleer Kreeei wilt tvpefb enphki end a*imntt*n r iftfM nunic and leimd
etferti, d*t am el trenturet end ebjefti uwiudinn flying ipider trurad.M and leHiinf killer tptekr *,
i I obi tram eufer tpece, intelJifeeit mmH f mmwmfu wdipv ntavmg fleen end riiinf hendi F Htti in
linn tknfti r vanayt hnyi te (print** daeri, »pe<eshtpt, wtd drapt and mid harm*li r nnf
„ monctbogv, par«ttiiitai p «H*rfy rnplanUhebln with mitkihekei, bewli a( ibarrtei^ had
bum, npplm, <upi vf fen r tnrnftekni and ke creene 1
AVI this end muck vera in Ihn f renlmr aver «Jk*e«e* mnrarben, m the lambat «i*inir tlm* nnd
fallew meifan where there em many ra*f*i I* the finish, where **■ will a* thteuf b Hall,
OuPtneent.Cnrden, Mnntien, Underf raund, leiaatenr, Sirublnnd end rNen*i Surface, wbern
ink abject tea ptey ■ vilal n)i i wbera tbn beferaleei kbf riafb reu t*e«it*i affyanr arcade
ikllll, ejtttfk finder*, fail fhinbim) parfeft liming, prnblenl leMnfl l««jk r erinalerien nnd
alia o .and ifrttt ef bvntnr All THIS 1MB MUCH MORI in Ihn

'Ir h wtj Jiffmmt fnm amtktmt
/ fn*i- vrrt tvfurr' c^*

'In* Kruhto nnd ^nnd m tttXHMf
and the eamnr h lutalh mMkti%r

V.ruf lewe^iwial mu i.

nrlJ rrciimnMf unfed, wha

7*f tzrupkh h der rurtt?nr*€ r, M , t^

lAfrkgolar « n tolally Ortgnvl ^nw Ni

'/lr ^iimi- f % «Q . /Ai- ^ru/Wft i nfT n fatt&tt.

" 1 hr r^F»Ki- ■/ prabltrm and the -^ ^k jihmis
Irfl rffix Ai-ll nlnrtr *hr mifffl \ ninarfi

■*■

Wrpggier la one of the rrn>tt
Attracts* nrende *chi*fniji»
gAmne I hart t**n for
n vnry long Mrr»» wlH

lh* munbe n n-ncenent !

Pi ill 1 hpnill

Original muaic to wriggle Id the wm jglir

If mmi m nn^ **nw M*nll

nrtirif»ot om

InM worth thiyingl — . - .
the of aphtu*. anHmation end cfwerc
04 concur ate
V*r i^ fnr rW l^imh ■< ^* *a> jh« aww
/W wr# /#jt iirn ^Wt IrnW " -r*

i hem 11.4 irn ipnnl Einti' *itf fb rni^ine

TtM Anowil 0" wenmnt KfNM fiMnA^ nte fljnnte
^ vnrf pi i i et m , nP ^ n yM » f nfwt mi ^peMmv,
#ddiCtiv*. r wOuVJ r»«rfn rr>prn| lhk» to *ny Ch.1c3
bnttftnn tha «o*« <tf a and BO —--*-»*

Aph»ri 9/i0 Sound V 10 VuuB "V"?

■ ::■ ja^vV

SPECTRUM rape
AMSTRAD tope

J disc

n 'io

£ 4.95
£ 7-95

£11-95

Available from Boots, W.H Smiths, T8D, Thorn EMI. Centreeoft GEM, RAR, Vanguard Leisure , War wiclt DiatritHition.Micfo Dealef.
and any good computer stock isl or direct from ROMANTIC ROBOT. 77 Dyne Road, London NW6 7DRof p^one OB92 B347B3

AMTIX March 1986 39

iaeM PET;fflg>Ni1

W+?ll Ihis is what I originally
wrotu

Halts of the Things is very good
indeed, It is about the beat game
I have hart the honour of loading
into the sacred orifices of my
Amstrad, It's great ii's got
pur pie pixels and white pixels
and green pmels It's even got
token hiack onesf Ft will cure

baldness, dropsy, anthrax, pw-
erty, inequality and will leave
you r bath sparkling clean 1 1 H&Ns
of the Things is the best thing
since man landing on the moonf
Sorry Mr Armstrong but you're
just noT as interesting r This is a
product worthy of a good grofc
from anybody, Buy it now to
become a truly whole human
being.

And I thought that was alright
so I said to Design Design:
'Can I have the money in used
fivers please?'

Then Jeremy caught on and
wanted to be cut in as well. I
wasn't going to let htm have a
piece of the action so the only
Thing to do was review it objec-
tively and f haven't doneihaT for
a long lime. So please bear with
me, dear reader, as my style
may be a bit ragged. Here goes

Am sir ad H&ff$ of th& Thtngs is
the resurrection of an ancient
Speccy program that first app-
eared m 1983. It is so o id that in*
one of the few qames not to

have been reviewed in CRASH
Even so in its time it did came
quite stir. ZX Computing awrir
oed it game of the year and said
many a ruee thing about it Halts
of the Thmgs is a son of arcade
interpretation of the otd dung-
eon and dragons adventure The
sort of thing that would warm
the cockles of Keith Campbell's
heart As an adventurer into the
Hatts of the Things you must
collect seven rings, one from
each floor, and then collect the
key from the basement to
escape

Sound simple? Well it's not
The things, whose hall you
wander through, are particular! v
thingish and not into people at
all. When you wander in it's all a
bit of a shock. So they decide to
try and kill you. Weapons of the
Things are just as nasty as them
and include arrows, lightning
fireballs and yet more arrows
You have these weapons as well
plus the aid o* your trusty
VORPAL sword {wcw)1 Arrows
are awkward to use but quite
effective. The trouble is the
direction has to be set with the
cursor keys first Whenever an
arrow is released it whr«es off in
the direction previously chosen
bghtn mg i s more ( u n Light n i ng
can only really be activated
when m line of sight of a thing
Represented as an asterisk, the
I ightn i ng can whi// up and down

the corridors, career ing off the
walls for a limited amount of
time. The trouble is that if it
flashes through you then you
farmed. A good tactic is 10
let off a whote stream of light-
ning that bounces up and down
the corridors, wreaking may-
hem until the Things dimmish
Firebars are neat as well, these
home to the nearest live thing
but only one can be unleashed al
aume.

If p at any time during |he

Eame, you decide to bash the 1
ey (a sill y thing to do unless you
know what it does) then the
game goes into pause and a
Status screen pops mio view.
Vital information relating to
magic status is shown on little
histogram bars, wounds, dead
Things and arrows, Magic is
depleted by constant use of
lightning and fireballs, while
wounds are increased by getting
wounded {a bit obvious I
suppose!

Whilst in the status screen
magic can bo used to deal your
injuries though a hefty slice of
your mystic power is grabbed m
return If there's no magic left in
your life then the use of fireball
and lightning is prohibited to
you.

Around the various corridors
thete are bottles filled with a
mystical psyche regenerating
liquid, Colled a bottfe and the
megk: bar increases by an

amount relative to the contents |
of the bottte. Remember, tho-
ugh, every Thing ihat lives
within the halls also has magic,
wounds and arrows. They can
also pick up potions, just as you
may, to replenish depleting
strength, They may also, rjuite
easily, kill themselves by un-
leashing bolts of lightning in
confined spaces Another teal
worth accomplish tng is collect-
ing the treasure that some care
less soul has left around the
place.

Mails ot ffw Thtngs takes up
the whole screen and shows the
action Hi rough a plan view type
perspective, You control your
man via a contort ionate key-
board Fay out that can be mas-
tered but takes some persever-
ance. Though from your godlike
view it's possible to see the
things lurching up and down the
corridors it is only possible to
hem when they are in
yogr line of sight Equally they
are unable to see you into you
are in their line of sight The
format is flip screen, though a
bttSh on the apace bar centres

the hero and adjusts the scenery
accordingly

Other obstacles blocking way
to finding the rings are the
numerous doors barring several
walkways. O for open and C for
close &fe the keys needed to
manipulate them. Cunning tac
tics involving the use of doors
can be employed to total Things
A good one is to quickly unlock a
door with Things behind it. let
forth a large amount of lightning
bolts and quickly seal the door
again. The closed door now
protects you from the rebound-
ma bolts.

Each floor of the halls is huge
pnd randomly generated at the
start of each game That fcno
ludes the placing of Things,
treasure ano Rings OverelJ Hafts
is a realty great game and I
honestly enjoyed it a lot Though
it may seem quite unsophi^ii
cated at first — the graphics
aren't the best in the world —
with a bit of staying power you
should be able to get into the
game underneath. Then you
should find H&tls of rte Tftmgs
not to be simple at all and dis-
cover the numerous sirar
and tactical factors, along with
the arcade influences, that make
Hatts what it i$ r a slice of com-
puter history,

When the persons Design
Design East trotted down to
sunny Ludlow thing* got a I
hectic on meeting our own dear
beloved mail order department.
Upon seeing nesome

young a iris happily stuffing J iffy

js, tneir most primordial and
basic urges, latent in all young
men, took hold of them So with
a spring and a cavon and a leap
and a bound the Mancunian

madmen grabbed hold of a box
of laccy bands and started the
nuw cusromary Design De*.
Majl Order elastic band fight Of
course Editorial had to join in
despite our best efforts
Newsfields finest were pitifully
vanquished.

It's all a bit depressing really
because the same thing hap

pens every lime they visit f don'i
know what 1 1 is but armed with
mere loops of elastic this north
ern software house is capable of
bringing the staff o* Britain's
best Amsfrad maga/me to their
knees So really this ts a plea for
help You see we're not awfully
good with elastic bands and
tend to end up pinging our
selves on the hand, much to the
amusement of voting soft

What we need you to do
design a deadly < and

powered machine. Given such a
weapon humiliation would no
longer be ouri, There are few
rules to adhere to, just to stop
Des Des shouting cheat Mum
bar one is that the weapons only
power source must come from
the elastic band- Rule number 2
specifies the projectile Fired
from the weapon must be pre-
chewed bits of paper. So get
designing now and submit all
entries ffl the form of a drav

or ft working prototype Get your
entrw-s, addressed to LACCY
BAND COMP AMTUC- PO BOX
10, LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE SY8
1DB. here by the ?0th March and
the best fifty entries will each
receive Design Designs Work

iackw#rd$ compilation
Made to run on 464. 664
61 M it features such memorable
past hrts as Off/* Star r ran*
Busters, On The Run and Wafts of

fhtngs^ Not only this bur ihe
lads at Des Des h^ve also pro
mised to include a mystery supa
dupa game, Though a bit reti-
cent about what the game is
when asked Is *i mega? 4 the
reply came 'ifet*. What belief
r ©commendation could there be
tit

AMT1X March 19B6 41

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Spectrum and Amstrad at a
recommended retail price of £9.95,

WMKmm

m The mostDOwertul carries m the Universe

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Tlr

ChfyMlim Visual Programming Lid

Quicksilva Ltd.,

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222 Regent Street.
London W1R7DB

01-439 0666

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IVELIN 1

R|VEL1N THI
OF AUTHENTIC AMERICAN FOOTBALL

f%\Th«? ofllcVl NFL authorised coi

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ALOOKATHONEYVIEWI,
COMMSTAR II

A member of the Ecclesiastical eompset takes a look
at communication software which comes with the
Pace Nightingale Modem.

INTRODUCTION

The first thinfl you notice about
Honeyview is it is available
immediately on swrtchtng on —
Che joys of ROM' — though the
disk operating system rakes r
seven seconds to load. The next
1 is the rase of use Every function
! has a pop-up menu, most wttti
I options, making operation vury
| simple indeed once the method
| has been grasped The menus
I immediately give the impres-
sion of a powerful but user-
friendly program packaged in a
most art race i ve format

MODE AND COLOUR CHANCE

The first menu controls the

mode change and ink colours
{which can be changed in mode
11 Honeyv*ew uses mode to
produce an accurate colour ren-
dering with lettering which is at
times a IrttFe "chunky', but is easy
to read and far superior to Anns*
trad s offering on their RS232
interface, also fully supporting
graphics and dynamic frames
Mode 1 givps a better text if you
jufigta with the colours — but as
eacn screen is different — it
doesn't always help, though
changing the colours can be
useful sometimes.

TFLfSOFTWARE

Honey soft have gone to great
lengths to make each menu
functional and easy to use, The
Tefesofi downloading is excel I
ent F it worked perfectly on all the
free programs and kept you
informed as to (he progress On
the way. tn fact, one could
become addicted to watching
the numbers twirl round as the
download proceeds. Im looking
forward 10 trying some Of the
chargeable software whan it is
released.

PAGES TO FILE OR

Saving and loading, of files and
buffers to and from disc or
screen, is very easy. The pop-
up menu calls for Save, Load,
Cat or Erase, Upon select hon. a
further menu appears with com-
binations of loading, saving
instantly to and from Screen,
Buffers and hies. The abrlity to
instantly save pages for off-
line viewmg is a most useful
feature The Save to Buffer op-
tion really is instantaneous, just
press Copy' to include the page
number, the 'Enter' saves it. This

is done in blocks of up to ten
pages using the Buffers, then
saving each ten page block as a
file. These files can be recalled
from disc and displayed via the
Carousel feature, which allows
you to f I ip through you r pages —
ck displays them automatically,
one a minu te — a useful feature
for a ctub night or advertising
session Disk management is
taken care of through the Cat
and Erase functions.

EDITING OFFLINE

The software supports off— line
editing and the program re —
defines soma function keys to

make selection of colours and
graphics very easy When up—
loading direct from the Edit
mode is implemented, it will be
a very useful and attractive
option. In the meantime, you
can practice as much as you I

ASCII DUMP

The 'control 7" key produces an
immediate ASCII te*t dump of
the current page This operation
is also available m Carousel
mode so if used properly it will
help with the phone bill during
those long on-line sessions,

USER DEFINED KEYS

One of the friendliest functions
is the user defined key This
makes it possible to reconfigure
the function keys (to operate
with the shift key>. so they pro-
duce up to 32 characters each
Obvious uses are for logging on,
MBX numbers, page numbers
and even recurring text Each
configuration of the 10 keys can
be saved to disk and recalled
almost instantly t found it useful
to configure separate sets for
different uses KEYLOG for
logging on, KETMSX'for mail
bOMing saves remembering and
typing in ell those long num
berSp T KEYGAL r for gallery pages
and editing and KEYCHAT tor
Daisy C ha time and Bullet,

MANUAL

Though very detailed it is clear,
readable and easy to under
stand, ft also includes a brief
introduction lo PHESTEL for the
beginner as well as details of
operation with several different
moderns. There is much poten^
ii,ii wiih this system and it will
pay to read this exhaustive
manual thoroughly

OTHER OPTIONS

Other menus provide lor me

BS232 interlace to be
configured with different
baud, parity and slop values.
Switch to offline Edit mode:
Change between disk and
tape.
me complete list oT menus

CTRL — SCREEN

Change mode/inks/clear

screen

CTRL!— RS232

Configure the RS232

interf ace

CTRL 2 — RLE Save, load,

catalogue and erase

CTRL 3

TELESOFTWARE

Download program when

online

CTRL 4 — EDIT Switch to

off-line edit mode

CTRL 5 — ONLINE Switch

to on-line. Reset clock

CTRL 6— CAROUSEL

Display buffers off-line

CTRL 7 — PRINT Print

screen (ASCII characters

only}

CTRL 8 — DISK Disk RSX

commands/tape load

CTRL 9 — USER Define.

load or save user key

CONCLUSION

Moneyview is one of the most
us^r friendly packages for the
Amitrad to come my way The

pop-up menus make operation
vf} ry easy However, whilst it can
be run from tape and will give
good service, a dish drive m
really needed to take full
advantage of its potential,

The Telesoft downloading
works very srmply and keep*
you wi! 1 1 informed TheabilitytO
save, load and edit pages off
line and display them
automatically through the
Carousel feature, is not only
useful; but also saves you
money and the user defined
keys make on-line working so
simple. Hie consideration of
providing you with a clock in
show you time elapsed on the
system also fends to cut down
the telephone bill Honeysofl
have pulled out all trie stops to
make their realfy user friendly
and with the price of ROM — or
disk — at £1995 (tape price
£1495). it is a real berg*m
Honeysoft tell me their
upgrades will be at a reasonable
COSt — probatory around f5 plus
postage.

I understand Honey soft are
working on a professional
version of Honeyview to be
available early in the New Year.
This will include full facilities for
editing Gallery pages off-line
with bulk up load to PreateL OH
line MBX preparation and
automatic sending. when
on-line. wMI also be there
together with abilrfy to define
default keys, support tor
scrolling viewdata and a new
screen mode 2 for greater
clarity I understand , too, the
software for Joyce' is under
development and should be
available shortly Wiih ail these
goodies in the pipe- line, I'm
beginning to look forward to this

Rev Stafford Simmondi

MIND THE DRILL

DAVID PAUL looks at some educational games and
reminds parents of some of the pitfalls encountered
with computers in education

A recent Artisoft catalogue lists
12 programs under the neading
of Education' and 67 under the
heading of Arcade Games' and
1 ! of the educational programs
are conversions of progiams
Originally written with the BBC
computer in mind They v,
aimed either at schools which
had just received their govern-
ment micro and were looking for
something better than the often
mediocre quality software that
was provided by the ace
panying micro pack, or parents
who were looking for educat
ion a I programs in the High
Street At that time the 32« BBC
computer was considered an
adequate home computer and
great play was made of its
educational potential.

Many of the early educational
programs were of the drill, load
and leave them' variety These

proved very popular with com
puter illiterate headmasters,
teachers and parents because it
meant you could introduce the
child to the computer, load the
program and dm feave the two
of them to get on with it This
approach meant that with in the
big three subjects of reading;
writing and arithmetic, children
got hands on' experience with
Computers without interfering
with any particular teaching
approach. In the home many
parents left that drill programs
were doing something with the
technology instead of just play-
ing arcade games. The objects
and aims of the program were

AMTIX March 1986 45

► i - ■ ■

■

•---»■--

::::::::!::::£:

familiar so thai jhey could help
their chMdren The fad that
parents and children could be
sitting down together booking at
school work is a considerable
plus for this type of program w
is the fact thai many children
find Computers highly

motivational

Teachers who preferred the
set it and forget' style of the drill
approach had a point too — for
such a sophisticated teaching
machine as a computer should
be able to cope with many tea
chmg situations. Unfortunately,
more often than not. the soft-
ware simply could not cope, tor
■-as designed to fit into
machines with limited memory

HAPPY WRITING

(Amsofl)

As its name implies, this pro
gram is designed to help young
children with letter formation in
either small Fetters (lower case}
or capital letters and is intended
for children aged be t we en 3 to 6
years old which of course in
eludes pre-scbool children
working at home with their
parents,

After a four and a heM mrnutea
loading time the first program
screen presents a menu with six
options, letters in either upper or
lower case or numbers can be
practised or any word up to ten
characters long can be entered,
the built-in word list of ir*n
words can be changed for a Osi
of your own choosing with the
maximum of ten letters for each
word. The final option 'set the
writing speed' allows you to
change the speed of the letters
as they are formed on the
screen.

Selecting the first option — to
practise one by one, presents a
screen asking you to enter b+g
tetters, smal (Tetters or numbers.
Then, whichever letter or num-
ber is struck on the keyboard, is
drawn on the screen very slowly
by a large dor that appears at the
point From which the Child
should start to copy the letter
using a crayon or a pencil This
process is repeated three times
for each character The child is
then asked to enter their name
which appears superimposed
on the drawing of a pencil or
screen. The three letters are Then
repeated as before, this time
the dot representing the
magic pencil' Guidelines for
the letters are drawn across the
screen by two slow and noisy
tractors and sound is used to
denote a high or tow drawing
point

A series of letter* and words
are treated in exactly the same
way. The option to change the
word list 15 well done and a is a
very easy matter la enter a new
list of ten words of the teacher or
parents' choice. Even after set-
ting the writing speeds the pro-
gram is ponderously slow and
lacks payability, most children

46 AFvmX Marctr 1986

would find it tedious after hav
ing seen it once and adults in a
one to one relationship with a
child could find it hard going to
keep interest ahve Pre school
workbooks which deal with
letter formation techniques can
be much more fun and a lot
more convenient to use — and a
lot cheaper.

HAPPY NUMBERS
(Amsofl)

Happy Numbers is designed to
teach pre school children the
idea of counting from one to
nine and number recognitn m
On loading the opening screen
presents a menu with three
choices, starting the program,
setting the num&er sequence —
and a monitor which can be
called up by an adult to review
progress

After answering the request
for the cfukTs name, a small face
appears upper m<d -screen.
there is a number which fills the

screen ft ro bottom to the

left of the face, the space to ihe
right being initially blank. The
task set the child ts to recognise
number and to tap the
corresponding key that number
of times. Apart from the escape
key, all other keys on the com
puter have been immobilised by
the software with only the cor-
red key to match the screen in
operation. If the on screen num-
ber is five then tapping the '§'
key five times produces five
colourful flowers on the right of
the screen. If the Enter key is
now pressed a tune plays and
the face smiles and the number
gfows with bright colours.

An incorrea response causes
the face to look said and a num-
ber corresponding 10 the nam
ber of flowers entered by the
child replaces the first number.
Only then is the correct answer
shown — a very good teaching
point.

The ability to set a number
sequence means that a child
having difficulty in recognising a
particular number Or numbers
cart be given practice in recog

Happy Numbers published by Amsoft Cass f'8.95
Happy Writing published by Amsoft, Cass f8 95
Number Pamter published by A.S.K.. Cass £1.95
AH programs are fully compatible with the CPC 61 28

nising them. By reverting to the
main menu and using option
three, en adult can see a review
screen showing correct and
incorrect response* for the pro-
gram. The program had more
child appeal than Happy Writmg
but achieves little more than the
usual plastic numerals with
pegs to fit them in — although it
would help very young children
become accustomed to using a
keyboard and stop them from
feeling left out of things,

NUMBER PAINTER
(ASK Software)

This is m a different category
altogether. At first glance Aitim-
herPaffit&r looks like the popular
arcade game in which the player

Bu ides an on-screen figure ohm
irvg ladders and running along
different levels whilst avoiding

Brsumg aliens and other pil-
li in addition to trying to beat
the clock There are no monsters
or aliens to zap here though, jusl
a painter on a building site who
needs ypur help to paint out the
necessary numbers which can
be positive or negative, in order
to reach a random \y set target

There are twelve levels of
difficulty ranging from level one
with target numbers in the range
of one to ten and using the
operations of addition and sub
non only, to level twelve
with targets in a range from 700
to 999, using addition, subtrac-
tion, multiplication and division.
You can also decide which of the
four painters to employ starting
wrth the rather slow Mr Rod and
going up to the very fast Mr
Speedy' They are punctuated by
Mr Walker and Mr Swift wMh Mr
Speedy* at the highest level of
difficulty, being stretching far
most adults

Screen displays are very well
done, when you select your level
the painter gives you a friendly
wave and sets off to work in a
bucket hoist If you allow your
painter to fall through a gap he
takes on a dazed appearance
and there is a short pause before
the game resumes — but the
displayed target number has
changed making your task har-
der. You must be careful to work
within the time limit for whilst

Ku are helping your painter a
cfcet of a paint is slowly being
hoisted to the top level and if it
Should reach the top before you
have achieved your target it
spills to hood the site and you
have to start aga in,

Children using the program
thought that it was terrific and
had to be prised away from the
computer — yet they had been
working very hard practising
their mental arithmetic The pro-
gram arso attracted the attention
of any adult who happened to be
jnthevrcimty.

Lots of mathematics for chil
dren in the age range &- 14 years
land adults!). Very addictive and
useful for home or school,

....... r . h

Ut*±***f*

;!;;;;

:i::iL±-LLL

iiiiiii

t':\\"

EAT YOUR WAY TO HEALTH
WITH STRADDLES

Thin, not very short but decidedly strange-
looking AMJiXi Food Correspondent, Luke
Hayter casts aside his fove of junk food and
examines a mine of nutritions/ information
presented on the screen of Jeremy (Dieting
End/essfy) Spencer's Amstrad, YOUR
HEAL TH is the program andHiSoft are the
authors.

Your H&alth was a bit of a sur
pr*sf? for me as il is a radical
departure from the more usual
high quality programm™ utili
tin and languages that Hi Soft
have punched in the past 11 is
Sf ill a high quairty product, but is
3 helpful and informative pro-
gram rather than a useful
profl ram.

The object seems to be to
educate people about food and
the nutritional value of what
they eat, and then to give simple

3uide lines to a healthy diet It
oesn'i claim to be a dieting or
slimming system, just a way erf
pointing out deficiencies in your
lifestyle caused by the contents
of your pantry. Once you've
discovered a dietary shortcom-
ing, you can look through infor-
mation on different foods, exa-
mine the statistics and start
leading a healthier life, In theory
at I east

The program comes with very
little documentation. Instfuc
tions $s to the way the program
Should be loaded and run are
not given Once you Have typed
RUPTYHL' followed by ENTER
the program loads and you are
presented with a menu) 1 !,

MENUS. MENUS

The menus used throughout the

firogram are all very easy to
ollow r mating the program a
joy to use They lake the form of

a numbered lisi of items. The

Program asks you for the num
er of the option you wish to
select and you then press
ENTER to input youf choice

The first section gives you
in formation on minerals and
vitamins There is a brief des
cnption of which foods each
substance is round in, and how ii
effects the human body. Fifteen
vitamins and twelve minerals
are described

The second section gives de-
tails of the energy, protom,
some mineral and some vitamin
counts in different foods There
are seven different classifica-
tions: dairy products; fish; cer-
eals; vegetables: drinks and
sweets; meats and fruits. Each
classification has a submenu
that lists specific foodstuffs on
which further details are
available

Your daily diet is the subject of
the third portion you may select
from the main menu You h&ve
to enter deiails of your height,
weight and so on r whereupon
you" are told the amounts of
energy, protein, vitamins and
minerals you should be con-
suming each day If you take the
results from this section you can
use Section Two to find the
foods you like to eat and then
work out a balanced selection of
foods thai give you the required
nutritional values and satisfy
you palate.

Section Four allows you to

devise a healthy diet for a family
of up to 15 people. Once details
for each member of the family
have been entered r the results
may be used to plan shopping
nips that will keep the whole
family healthy.

EXPERTS

A medical Expert System fol
lovvs as the fifth option on the
main menu It asks for a variety
of informal ion about your health
and then suggests reasons for
any ailments from which you
might be suffering if they might
be related to your diet,

The sixth and final section

ves some ideas on how to lose
or gain I weight. You give the
computer some details about
yourself and it advises you if you
might be over or under weight
Based on its first deduction
about your physical bulk, the
computer then suggests how to
modify your diet so as to allow
you to approach your target
weight safely,

There is en option on each
screen to copy the information
on it to the printer — useful if
you want to be able to compare
two or more food stuffs ai a
glance later on, or if you are
trying to balance a meal.

The program is well presented
with colour used to make head

ings and other important infor-
mation stand out The only
problem with this m thai some
times the colour schemes could
have been chosen to give better
contrast. The program is silent
unless you try to select a option
that does not exist on the current
menu* when you are rewarded
with e beep

LIMITED APPEAL?

Although driven by excellently
linked menus, this program
gives access Tn information
which will appeal to a limited
number of people People study-
ing subjects such as Food and
Nutrition, teachers of the same
subjects, doctors, possibly, and
other professionals concerned
with the technical side of diet
might find it especially useful. A
larger da ra bast? containing sug-

§ested meals, more detailed
escnptions of the nutritional
values of foods and the offering
the user the option to compare
different foodstuffs On screen
would have been useful.

This said, the program is in-
formative and has some applies
lions, though rather limited I
would suggest that anyone with
more than a fleeting interest in
diet take a look at this excellent
program

Luke Mayter

A POWERFUL DATABASE FOR
THE PRICE OF A GAME.

WKWIKFILEM

t ypu mm F la perform c/o« Mr or frekf
cattutMmnx jrwn MA 5" T£ ftFIL £ ctwxtf Aafo
Tht* pwttcubr #nf* s*ptm flftv tfwtpf a of KWfK I

.t wv cAevpf ptogr&nvm wotrh *i*ryp*fir?v ' AMTtX*

A tow &*KG cUl*b#*#, dftfeg'ttd tot im and my nwufhilfttflfl ot dftlitiln
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* fm nrdi (fay vnbidM knv i

1 ^th it, hffcb r *ir afc. or I
Lemfi cwtftJi prrtm
1 f rx= en tfungt Hit tmm 9 oft
" latM Qi ri N* Mtifbb
1 1 m* md Otc wmmm w *■ u

i 9) wS mmnfl iqvi

F^tel DM V f 1 1 K

Cljurrl) iss

i programme, based around KWIKFIUE. has
:Wity to print oul the necessary Elect*
Roil report, plus calculate all the sidesman tolas,
flowoi rotas, communion plate rotas, etc and to print the desired

My of lists of aach, ready to send out lo those on Ih* lists
{Don® in minutes instead of hours qt days I II will hold records of up
lo 200 parishioners.

tape £12,95 disc fl 6 96

MPS Toltgaie Haute, Trent ham Road,
Buutrion. Newcastle. Staffs STE4DY
Telephone 40782) Ml 770
Phritev **dd f t. 00 for owese&s crdtrs

AMTIX March 1986 47

M-JMQ

Firing from the hip with

LASER BASIC

LASER BASIC is art extension to the standard
LOCOMOTIVE BASIC on the Amstrad. Written by
OASIS SOFTWARE and published by OCEAN under
the Ocean IQ label, it can be used on the Amstrad CPC
464/664/6128 computers £14 95 cass, £19 95 disk

INTRODUCTION

Most people's immediate pur-
chase, after the major one of the
computer \\seit is some games
— even the serous user, if
honest, will admit to this And
why not? It's often the best way
of rapidly assessing the rnach-
ines potential Soon after* (he
serious" and less serious user
tend to approach each other's
territory m the desire to actually
write games, and across the
board, software houses have
always been bringing out ut lilies
for this very purpose, laser
Basic is such a program.

it comes packaged in a large
video style case which opens to
reveal two cassettes end an
instruction manual. The cass-
ettes hold Laser Extended Basic,
Laser Basic Demo, a sprite
designer and a sound generator.
Laser Extended Baste provides a
senes of ftSX < Resident System
Extension! commands which
means that each command
must be prefixed by the bar
symbol, All the commends can
be tTii*ed with normal Locomo-
tive BASIC so you are losing
none of the functions normally
available from Locomoi
However; once loaded. Laser
Bask only leaves you with 15K
for the actual program you want
to write* Bits presents a disad-
vantage to the novice program
mer. but Laser Baste offsets this
drawback since its power obvi-
the need for that tost

memory as long as you consider
the design of your program and
are sensible about your use of
the remaining memory, Be-
skies, writing the graphic and
sound controlling routines youf -
self without such a utility as
Laser Baste would take far
longer and be less flexible

USING THE USER

Laser Basic adds over ZOO new
commands to the normal BASIC
and these allow fine control over
the screen; sprites, and sound
By mi King the normal BASIC
variables, loops and program
flow structures and the control
of graphics and sound afforded
by the program there is great
potential for the would-be
games designer.

Sprites are the main concern
of Loser BeSiC and the graphics
commands for ton (rolling the
screen consist of defining spri
tes: scrolling them up, down,
feft or right, with wraproun

48 AMT1X March 1986

without* up to 17 sprite windows

(the program allows for the
definition of up 120 individual
sprites! Expansion of parts,
mirror imaging and rotation of
the information in a window is
alt available* through simple
commands, and within the com-
rnaods there are many options
which give a large degree of
freedom, allowing the fastest
type of sprite to be chosen to suit
your needs

Sprites can be displayed m
different ways: logical OR, AND
and XOR KOR being similar to
the way Sorcery h an die |
The sprites can be made to pass
in front of the information al-
ready on the screen or behind it.
Collision detection is also a*
able hut ii slows down the
program's operation whiik

Sprites can be put
under direct joystick or key-
board control and also made to
»nce J off the edges of pre
defined windows automatically .

Unfortunately it's only pri
bie to design and edii sprites by
usinq the Sprite Generator
which is inconvenient when vou
are learning to use Laser Bask,
but does mean more memory
being available for your |
gram, Screens can be compres-
sed to save memory and the
compacted screens can bt
called and displayed very Quiet-
ly Additionally there are com-
mands to allow programs to be
operating in the 'background'
while the mam program is run
nmq, similar to the normal
BASIC EVERY command

USER SOUND

Although (here is only one
sound command. PLAY r the<e
are some 20 subset H instruc-
tions' ensuring that proper
sound can be added to your
program, Again, it is only pos*
sible to define tunes by using the
supplied Sound Generator on
the second cassette. There are
commands to define volume
and tone envelopes, control the
three sound channels on the
Amstrad and play notes. The
tun*** you define can be made to
play while the game continues
to operate.

In assembling either sound or
graphics routines, there are
several commands that are
needed to make sure that Laser
Basic knows what you are doing
and does not corrupt the data
you have given to your program.
Some functions are provided to

-v vuu to find Out if on action
you are about to try is possible
will not destroy any
previous data of importance or
that (here *s enough memory to
actually perform the action In
and many other respects,
Laser Baste proves to be friendly
and helpful in use — rather a lot
mo re so than the m a n u a I

USER JARGON

As t said, sprites are the impor-
<?spect of thi* program and
are therefore given the largest
ink of the 130 page manual
S very long and very com
prehensive, covering aN areas of
Laser Basic in great detail. And
here lies the second drawback
the novice programmer The
detail is often obscure and relies
heavity on an existing and well
founded knowledge of the Sub-
let The gkissary of terms used
is the first important part to read
for the rest of the manual to be
understood,, and the rest must
be read from cover to cover,
doing the worked examples 35
they occur, or there is little
chance you will get the most
from the program. The detail
sometimes gets very technical
as it tries to explain the reason
for any limitations of # com
mend, gives a worked example,
and then dashes on to the next
command It would have been
better to expla in a command to a
Standard level, go through an
example and then give any
necessary technical detail need
ed when using the command It
seems strange that Oasis Should
ome up with such a
daunting manual when you con
sider the excellence of their
earlier Spectrum WHtie Lrghf-
ning package, with its extremely
friendly manual

IN CONCLUSION

The graphic ^rnt sound gen*
ing programs are an absolute
necessity to get the most out Of

£as*r Baste
must be loede*
with Laser Bas
and are men
mam opt

These programs

c already present
u-baseri for the
Each option has

its own control keys where
needed. They are both easy to
use and are powerful utilities,
equal to Laser Ba$*c itself

Laser Basic is a fine and
worthy eictensM. emotive

BASIC but ri does have some
[1 ^advantages. The manual is
too detailed end could easily
swamp somebody with little
idea of the techniques of games
programming, The commands
are much closer to machine
code mnemonics than BASIC
neanings ere tees
clear If you try to have lots of
Sprites running the program
becomes slower and if a routine
is funning in the 'background'
the speed is even less. I foj
that writing any action game
With Laser Basic required the
same amount of thought, as far
as design and finishing is con-
cerned, as a comparable atk
machine code program.
Laser Basic wilt be comple-
mented by a Laser Baste
Compifer. I would suggest that
both programs wiN be required,
this should greatly increase
use of Laser Baste at an
action game too]

This program is a very well
designed and implemented util-
ity which allows the creation of
games without the need to write
the reasonably complicated
machine code required to con-
trol sound and graphics simul
taneously , but it still requires the
user to have a reasonable know
ledge of the theory of machine
code If you ere considering
using Laser Baste you should
>usly thmk about spending a
iittte more lime and learn mac-
hine code *n the form of ass-
embler. Oasis Software musl be
congratulated for designing and
dementing this useful and
easy to use package, and Ocean
must be cheered for releasing it.
LukeHayter

TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A PROFESSIONAL
GAMES WRITING MACHINE FOR FUN AND PROFIT!

LASER BASIC adds 200 new commands to Amstrad Basic and includes an
extended interpreter, a sprite/graphic designer, 3 sets of pre-defined

_ " sprites, a sound generator and full

i demonstration program. Easy to
use, with a very comprehensive
manual, packed with examples.

• The fastest and most powerful sprue manipulation ever seen
on an Amstrad. 255 sprites each with their own user
definable dimensions.

4 Windows and sprites on be scrolled, enlarged, mirrored,
routed and inverted.

• Ewemley powerful interrupt driven sound handling that
enables tunes and sound effects to be assembled in sprites
and played directly or under interrupt.

• LASER BASIC'S most powerful feature is its ability to
execute sound and graphics under interrupt. This produces
programs with the speed and smoothness of Amstrad
machine code.

OUT NOW FOR THE AMSTRAD CPC 464/664

£14.95,..,

TL II7*79dis

*>«* ******

?-£?

■ Ittfvwn vr bHS t«i o&i *n 1 »3

-4F

■Hi

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:if::;;i:;::f;::th ;;:t:;::l;:t:i;:r:t: :::t::;:|;:;:i::;:i;::;f;:::i::;:ii^^^

HIHUHHHI

CP/ M IN BU

■MH

roDaDly one of the main attractions ot CP/M tor the
home computer user is that it gives him the possibility
of using his machine for serious business type
applications as well as the usual game playing, and
possibly a little programming practice. It is not until
one uses a computer with an operating system such
as CP/M and disk drives that the full possibilities of the
business and serious uses of computers becomes
apparent

mmm

■■■■i

Although there have been one
or (wo machines such as the
Apple and TRS80 which did
have a reasonable amount of
decent software available and
possibly even the BBC, the
software for these does not
really compare with the quality
and quant i Ty available for CP/M
Business software lends to fell
into Ihree mam categories
WO«DPROCESStNG DATA
BASE and SPREADSHEET Of
course there ere many other
categories such as communica-
tions, graphics project planning
and so on, but these ere stiM the
backbone of business comput-
ing. The best known programs
associated with these applica-
tion* are WORDSTAR, DBASE II
and SUPEHCALC Since these
programs wer# first introduced
many developments in software
have taken place and they are
beginning io look a bit dated
compared with some of the
recent 'do it air integrated
IBMPC packages. The applica-
tion* they handle a*e however
siiii the basis for most of the
requirements of a small busi-
ness system.

DISINTEGRATED SOFTWARE

Even spreadsheet/database/
word processor packages most
small businesses need can be
filled by separate programs.
Probably the only area where
the 16 bit machine has a real
advantage is for large Spread
sheets as most of the spread
sheet programs,, such as SUP*
ERCAiC. when run under CP/M
have only 20k ot so of RAM left
for the spread sheet, but even
th>s wtlf be found sufficient for
many business applications.

DATABASE APPLICATIONS

Probably the best known data-
50 AMTIX March 1986

base progr.T; h DBASE II pro-
duced by Ashton Tate DBASE II
is actually more like a special
language dedicated to ihe hand-
ling of data files than anything
else A database file >s made up
of records Each record is made
up of fields In DBASE II there
may be a maximum of 32 fields
per record. A typical application
would be a name and address
file The lines containing the first
name, second name, address,
town , post code etc. are the
fields, and the whole set of fields
connected with one entry make
up one record. In DBASE II and
most data-base systems r the
structure of a database file is
fixed once chosen, so some
planning ahead is needed when
deciding how big the fields
should be and how many there
should be. Most database use
this fixed record and field idea as
does CREATOR

CREATOR

Unfortunately DSASE II is noi in
the public domain bur Creator is.
Creator is actually a program
generator; it does not handle or
make databases itself but it
writes programs which do H is
certainly not up to DBASE II in
quality, but ft is good enough for
many simple database appiica
trans and it is 'free J There are
two parts to CREATOR, Creator
itself and REPORTER Reporter
is another program generator
which writes programs which
will produce printed and screen
reports of the contents of Crea-
tor database files Both Creator
and Reporter require some ver-
sion of the BSSiC language, fairly
compatible with Microsoft
Basic, to run. They are not
supplied as directly executable
COM files, but come as BASIC
source programs, however this

does have the advantage that
you can modify them if you want
to. When you first run Creator rr
will ask you for the definitions of
the fields required, to length,
eha racier or numeric. iype of

fjrompt to use r any calculated
ieids etc. When the fields have
been defined to your satisfac
Tion r Creator will then generate a
basic source program which will
create and handle a data base to
the specifications given, The
generated program has func-
tions to add records, delete
them, scan, updateledit) and
look up Reporter works in much
the same way. Once you have
set up your database with Cre-
ator, the same field and record
specifications plus details of
how the reports are to be for
matted, are fed into Reporter
which then writes a Basic pro-
gram to produce reports from
the database file Creator end
Reporter are supplied on UK
Volume 25 for the CP/M version,
(this volume also has a scientific
spread sheet program called
OXSTAT and a DBase 2 program
for making form letters and label
printing), there is also an
MSDOS version of CREATOR on
PC-SIG volume 339.

W0f»-Pfi0CE$$M6

There have been many Jong
dissertations about the merits or
otherwise of various word- pro-
cessing programs, 50 we won't
go into another here- However,
there are some points which are
rarely mentioned which if not
taken into account can mean
wasting money on an unsuitable
program. When producing pro-
gram source hies for BASIC.
PASCAL. ASSEMBLER, DBASE
II £nd most other languages,
what is required is a file which
contains plain ASCII without any

control characters apart from>
tab I control I), carriage return
(control Mh line feed [control J)
and control Z 10 marfc end ot
Most word^rocessor programs
use special n on -ASCI I charac-
ters to do operations such as
right hand justification, indents
and other special features.
While these features ere very
desirable for producing nice
looking documents ihey tk> not
go down at all well in program
files. If you want to use your
word processor program to
write program Files make sure
you get one which will produce
standard ASCII Te*i files as well
as document files Wordstar for
example has a document and
non document mode for this
purpose

BIG FILES

Another valuable feature is the
ability 10 work with files which
are bigger than can be fitted in
memory. This wiH be partku
lariy impdrtirM to aomw o s
wanting to write in assembler,
as assembler source files are
commonly 10 to 20 times bigger
than the end program produced.
100K files are not uncommon.

TiXT FORMATTERS

This is the name usually given 10
another type of word processor
With this system the Editor part
of the program is separate from
the printing function What us
ually happens with this kind of
set up is that the Editor iust

Produces a standard ASCII hie
print il out another part of the
program is tun which does any
special page formatting justify
cation etc. To achieve the des-
ired formatting, special printing
directive commands have to be
p faced *n the lex* file to be
printed These are usually in the
form of dot commands For
example .in 5 indents the tent 5
spaces, or ce centres the text
and so on. This type of text
formatter can produce some
very fancy formatting, but ihey
are harder to use than the ones
which just print out what you
see on the screen, One of trw*
better known of these is HGFF
This is a very sophisticated
program which can print scien
tific characters and many c-'
things. BOFF is a public domain
program and is available on
CUG volume 35. Another public
domain program of this kind is
The Secretary' which is on US
Volume 92, Tnss program corn-

TTTti *«+:::::

113 S^

■n- i i i i I t-p- i i t i i -i-* I i ■ i i M * 4-1-

+ a. m ■ j. ■ li ■ t ■ L . ■ ■ i L i . i ■ L i ■ i ■

' " " : fc ' ' : ' t ; ; ; : :

*t 4 -*'t

-mm +mmn mm *■ k * »»»*»

IINESSli

"*"-*:::*-

,,: 'ixxw *v

bines an
formatter

editor and text

■

IT XT EO IT DBS

This is the name usually given to
word processor type programs
which are mainly used for pro
ducmg program source files in
standard ASCII They do not
usuaHy have facilities for justify-
ing text paging, print formatting
and other docufn^m type fea-
tures. Many le*t editors are
awful things like the dreaded
ED J whudl comes with CP/M.

A POOfl MANS WORDSTAR

One of the best text editors 1
have tried is a public domain

frog ram called VDG25. It does
ave soma disadvantages, it
can't be used for files that are
too large to fit into memory. This

limits file size to about 50 K. end
it will not do right margin just
if [cation, or work out page
breaks. Apart from this it is an
excellent program for many
applications VDQ25 functions
very much like Wordstar, tn fact,
most of the keystrokes do a*'
actly the same as they do in
Wordstar, so if you have used
that famed wordprocessor, you
will certainly be very much at
home with VDO. Although VOO
was primarily intended as a
handy text editor for program-
mers who did not require the
document producing feature* of
Wordstar itself, it does have
some of these features. It can,
for instance, print Gut files and rl
is possible to include printer
control characters in the text foi
bold, underline, condensed etc
Some of the nice things about
VOO are that it is quite a lot
faster than Wordstar as it does

not have those overlay files to
pull in from disk; it fS small only
7k, and best of all it's free H welt
nearly). Like Wordstar, VDO has
to be installed for the computer
it is to run on and is supplied
with an install program to do
this The current install program
has about 20 computer type* to
choose from, but even if your
machine is not on the list.
(Murphy's law was it ?), then it s
not too difficult lo patch in your
own screen codes as these are
contained in a little table 300
bytes in from the beginning of
the file. VD025 is on CPMBBUK
volumeS.

MORE ON THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

One of the things I'm commonly
asked about these Public Do
main programs is "what about
documentation 7 ' Well the

answer to this rs that u*u«Hy on
the same disk with the program
there are some text files called
README DOC, MANUAL.TXT,
INSTALL.DOC, or something
similar These are text files
which you can view on the
screen with the TYPE' com
mand or print oul using "PIP
LST FILENAME ' These file*
Should give sufficient mfor
mat ion to enable you to install
and use the program, All of ihe
volumes mentioned are obtain-
able for £2,00 plus 50p post and
packing per volume, (you supply
the disk), from the PD Software
Library, 138 HoPtye Rd East
Ghnstead, W*st Susse*. RH19
3EAT*I 0342313883

Nexi month we will take a look
at the item that newcomers to
CP/M often have trouble with
Installing Programs '

^^^^^^^^^^*^—

HiSoft PascalSO
1001 £39.95

rgamse your
Discs with the
latest tool from

HiSoft

Catalog

HiSoft DevpacSO
1002 £39,95

HiSoft Catalog « u*. MuJ uniiiy for o*nsi or

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ud Lh* FCWHJ6. II Mlkrwt you to ***? track of lit your
fiJti iprud 4CIW oumumi dH£t k WUS dt£* pUunpi dj
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CatalOF leu nq
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Cttttlog ]di «u pft diKA rauJU-chAracier LftbeU. wish
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"nwlli thy t£

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up-le-dM* v«fiK»£J Of corapilcn tad to Ol. Yeuli find
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tinm-pijyer. If you fciv* ion of di*c* you uod ILiSorT»

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All ihii«r .mmim fpf ycur.ADixM wHsq?ui« fumttBi
CfrW i2 or CF/M FW ud fof *Jriw*( «y ZMCKM
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CftUloe Is only £14.95

ISoft Hiii | *|4« witty of i iuyaiim at Uflpnifii
Ud lOOls foi rmrtt COfflputcn - ilL tbe Amilrkd
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«f^ For octal* « im PTDom itfveiyiod b«rc «o4 i^
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Kt$ofl ^"rit u a Ainu*! CfiOpkM UTIPlM—tiOl Of

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eopmuicr *od jron4« jut fchuui *U the THtum of C
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tod dehu|fiflf pAckiic, Adapted bv mujf computer
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Telephone (0582)696421

AMTIX March 1386 51

JMiTECHJ'

■

! :::!:::::::;:•;:-

SURGERY

I have lo admit, that once 1
opened the large cardboard box
And let the grsmo within lose*
my excitement turned tOtrtpM
ation — how was L a clumsy.
fumbling Amster. to gal this
large and delicate piece of *
ardry ^nto my 464 There was
tittle consolation m I he realisa-
tion that my warrenry had ex-
pired and so could not be voided
By my tumblings My Track re
cord with things electronic *
mechanical was sufficiently
poor to make Straddles, break
out into a cold sweat. Neverthe-
less I armed myself with a posi-
dnve screwdriver and a carving
fork |! couln't find a small screw
doverl. After a cursory glance at
the booklet I convinced myself
this was en operation that any
idiot could perform — being wel J
qualified I began

I had seen the inside of my
Straddles once before (we have
that kind Of relationship), but
this second visit was a real eye
opener — the dust that had
gathered inside would have hit
ed a Hoover baa Two chips had
to be removed before the board
could be fitted. The first, the
Ztlog 2B0A wasn't too worrying,
after all these days you can gkek
these things up from pood hard-
ware shops and high street
chemists. The second chip was
the Amstrad special, not quite so
easy to come by — life being
what it is .— this was the hardest
lo get at, especially wif h a carv
tng fork, After some struggling I
managed to release both chips
and it only took me 10 minutes
to straighten ihe legs. After this
first stage I really got into the
Swing of fhings All I had to do
now was plug in the board, put
the chips back in iheir new
homes, flatten a few cornpon*
ents, place an insulating film
under ihe Vortex board and,
fma My, screw ihe computer back
together again All in all the task
took about an hour, but the!
included watching bits of C»g-
rwyandLaeey

52 AMTIX March 1986

THE 464 PLUS SUI

Screens, a distribution company have signed up with
the leading German hardware supplier Vortex to
market a new range of hardware for the Amstrad. The
first product is a massive expansion board for the
CPC464. Jeremy Spencer takes his Straddles' life in his
hands and has a go.

MEMORY

. . . AND AFTER THE
ANAESTHETIC

The most worrying pari was
turning the computer on* my
hand was shaking w much \ had
trouble getting to the switch To
my delight everything worked
perfectly. The Vortex ROM signs
on with a massive message
Li k i r 1 1. } u 1 1 a itihf lines — a boon to
those seeking oneupstr addles
Ship by having so m^ny ROMs
away that the screen has to
scroll up to accommodate Ihe
sign on messages The extra
facilities implanted inside your
computet depends on the type
of board you purchase The
smallest board is Ihe SP64
targest being the SP512 All
boards except the 51 2k version
ate oxpandible The table below
wiM give you an idea of how the
boards differ

PITCH UP CP/M

The first feature I tried was the
RAW rhsk so this meant prepar
ing a special CP/M disfc First a
program called PATCH.COM
must be loaded onto disk from
cassette. When this *s run it sets
about altering the two system
tracks, and produces three new
COM iiles; OSC, RAMDtSK and
SPOOL The latter two files for
mat the RAM disk or toggle the
printer buffer on or off. If yoi.
you can use PATCH to format
the RAM disk and turn on the
[jr inter buffer automatically
when you boot upCP/M r bul this
will mean cleaning out the RAM

You wouldn't think there would be
room for all this inside a 464

Ml IMMMIIIMtll r*#****i«#*l#4' **********

• ■■ Mip'rii'ii'iii -llSljTSSS TT5TZ ■ " •

■::::{:::::}::-■ r f|[ j \\\\\ \ ]]\\\m\ |j[r ;:: -

--**t--*-t- fc -- , -t- j --?T:T?*t*i?ft?;;*t;»?;i-'!:::lir:;i':':i::::i = ::jt: = ::l

;::::f::;::::i;:;

l-t-vt:;::l:: .

IPER STRADDLES!.

SOCKET FOR Z80A CHIP

AMSTRAD ROM

disk when you return lo CP^M
after a quick trip into BASIC
After the patch op* ration you
must use MOVCPMCOM and
SYSGEN COM to gei the full 60K
TPA AIL of these operations are
fully explained in a wonderfully
colourful English translation of
the original German text

CP/M is greatly enhanced To
begin with the larger TPA means
thaf you can use full size vers-
ions of programs like Word&ter
and be able to move blocks of
text larger than a couple of lines
RAM disk is a very useful
tpol indeed, For those with only
one drive it Is a godsend, but
even those fortunate to have
two drives will quickly apprec-
iate Iffet increase m Speed For
the larger boards the capacity Of
Hi is new C drive far exceeds
that of the standard Amsirad
disks SO it could be used to hold
targe documents Of databases.
But. never forget that the con
tents of this drive will vaporise if
ttie electricity stops flowing
That lack of safety and the fact
that a RAM disk can o n ly be used
as a staging post when copying
from one disk to another ere its
two disadvantages. But if you
are both patient and disciplined
you should derive a great deal of
satisfaction from the chip disk

BACK TO BASIC

Since the board b nol designed
to be removed agarn it follows
that it should not interfere with
the computers' other act writes,
such as running games soft
ware. I tested I & different games

FLY LEAD

REFERENCE TABLE FOR VORTEX DOARD

MODEL

SP64

SP128

SP2&6

SP320

SP512

Price

£99.95

£119.95

£139.95

£149.95

£159.95

RAM disk

none

64k

129k

256k

448k

CP/M area

60k

Data area

Shared

with

basic

area

256k

Baste area

64k

96k

160k

192k

286k

and the only one whtch would
not load was Ww of Tft& ttxpt&d
tng ft&t, the reason being mat
this particular game uses evry
single byte of memory, right up
(0 HIM EM. and pan of the
VORTEX firmware is sitting in
the very lop four bytes My
version did not provide any
means Of turning the Vortex
ROM off other than opening the
computer and disconnecting the
fry lead. I could instal a switch to
break that connection but I
understand that a new version
of the ROM has already been
sent out, with a new command
iBosout which cJeers the Vortex
ROM out of memory
completely,

The command IBOSS lakes
you into the board's expanded
BASIC Once here you have a
whole range of commands to
manipulate data, screens and
variables between the memory
banks. For example it is legal to
use the new Kkrtub to direct a
program into a subroutine held
in a different bank (List can be
used to list a program bank by
bank while lioM wdJ load a
program into a selected bank
and ISave to get it out agai n

Apart frortibetng able to write
programs which can operate
across a number of different
memory blocks the new BASIC
also provides a mean* of mani*
pulatrng the memory for data
§q€+ IRamopen and Warn-
field Formats an areas of mem-
ory into records, rather like a
database ftamread and IRam
write are used to read and write
records into the reserved areas
Special commands have been
built m to deal with the manipu-
lation of screen blocks. iStreen
commands can be used lo sec-
tion off an area of video and then
load pictures out of memory
onto the semen at great speed

The BASIC also provides an
expanded set of graphics com
mands, to bri ng the 464 up to the
standard of the 664 and 6128
These include rFast which daub
les the speed of scree*
(Frame, forces synchronisation
between the CRT and the data
being sent to Hi Mash defines a
mask for graphic output ot lines
and points.

Although the RAM disk cannot
be used from basic ihe print
spooler can, though I confess to
having problems with the like of
Pretext (Spool. on turns on a
32K print buffer ready lo grab
your output and deal it out to the
printer while you continue with
your console work

Fin&lty, the board comes com'
pie le with its own 280 monitor
designed to interact with the rest
of the software to grve the

AftrlTIX March 1986 53

Beef up Straddles with UTOPIA

Those nice men who brought us PRO TEXT have

made theif latest product available exclusivelv to the

readers Of AMT1X!

What is UTOPIA? Well it's a state with perfect
political and social conditions and — a basic toolkit

flOM The ROM conlaircsa library of useful

■ sub-routines which can be invoked diretfly with a

single external command. Most of the routines are

designed to be used from BASIC and make a

programmer's life a lot easier. Imagine the

convenience of getting a graphics or text screen

dump without h wing to toad a program in p just a

simple bar command. Besides the commands to

help you write your own programs the ROM a tso has

a large number of file commands so you don*! have

to keep loading in your system disk lo perform such

mundane operations as FORMAT. Powerful
commands enable the user to juggle around bits of
memory with i

Apart from having your own UTOPIA the only other

thing you need is a way of plugging it into your

Annstradt No problem. The price includes the Amor

single ROM board which can be located discreetly

rnside you r computer without you even having to

take a screwdriver to the thing. Although the ROM is

compatible with the 464, 664 and 6128 the board is

not so please let Auntie Aggie in mail order know

what type of Straddles you live with. Apart from that

the only other requirement is that you should part

with a bit of cash (well a cheque or postal order

would be better). All we ask is a mere f 42 .50 and that

includes the normal nasties such as VAT, postage

and packing.

I enclose i Cheque /Postal order for £42 SO nude payable
to NewsfieJd Ltd'

my UTOPIA and ROM board to |

name ........... . * ... k . * ...... . + . . . * * .

Address . s * .

. „ l ■ ■ ■ ■ i. ■.. ........... mm. m.tm.t .,......t. ■ ■•••■ ■

«•-«' ...... .......... r ^ ....... ^ ..... d , . . . . .

ft || ■ | || || J.-.

«...-. njmHXMJm ^ ........ .

Auntie Aggie can you tend me a board id fit a 4*4 / 664 /

6128

(circle a* appropriated

UTOPIA OFFER, MUX! MAIL ORDER. PO BOX
10, LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE ST8 1DB

AMTIX March 1986

4MXBCUI

nnaB

MiflNtlliHtilttm)f""J'^*^WII

machine code programmer
some real power, The monitor ts
able to assemble and disass-
emble code as welt as tracing,
single- stopping, displaying and
altering single memory loca-
tions The monitor can be eel lad
up a! any time, even while ano-
ther program is running, and be
exited to put you back exactly
where you started from,

CONCLUSION

While the (XTroniCs expansion
was designed to be compatible
with existing software, this one
was not It makes absolutely no
attempt at all to emulate a 6128
which means that the commer-
cial programs like Ta sword 6128
and Meslerfile 6128 will not
work

I was slightly disappointed 1 ho
system could not support CP/M
plus, just how many 464 owners
will share my disappointment
remains to be seen. However.
Ihe Vortex 'CP/M has a few
minor improvements of lis own
and there" s no doubt in mymmd
that the RAM disk and primer
spooler are very valuable tools. I
$u$pect that most people will
initially find the enhanced CP/M
Ihu most rewarding, before they
begin to tefieftf Frsm the be-
ard's other facilities, This is
simply because the CP/M facili-
ties are the most noticeable and
the easiest to use. Having said
that you must be prepared to

Extended Basic commands

reconfigure any existing CPM
programs that you have if you
want them to take advantage of
(he farger TPA r not an easy task.
Since there are no commercial
programs able to take advent -
age of the new BASIC, none CP/
m activities are going to be
Jimited J am told that a number
of software houses are now in
possession of one of these
boards and they are either corn
verting exi sling software or wri-
ting new applications, When
these new products reach ihe
market the versatility of ihe
board will know few boundaries
The Germans are apparently
putting the finishing touches to
a graphics ROM designed to
interface directly with the board,
the possibilities are mindbiow

in reality what we have here is
a new computer One which is
fully compatible with the 464 but
which has power to spare — a
464 Plus. Like any new computer
the success or failure of the 454
Plus depends on the software
support it gets Screens are
dedicated to encouraging the
development of software but
there's much to be done if we
mr^ to take advantage of the
boards undoubted power

IBank Seled one of the 32k banks

IBasic Retu m from ffioe

IBos Tu m on new Basic

rCall Call machine code routine, specify bank and address

ICommofi a I lows va r tables to be common across s peo 1 i ed ba nks

IDev Assign output channel for HJat

IFast Increases video output speed by factor of two

(Frame Synchronise data output to CRT

Kkhar Read character from x;y position

IGosu h Call subroutine in specified bank

Kioto Jump lo specified line in specified bank

IGpaper Assigns a background colour

IGpen Assigns a foreground colour

Hist List program bank by bank

ILofad To load a program larger than one bank

iMask Define a mask lor graphics output

IMon Calls resident mom I or

iNew Clears selected banks

Peek Peek at spec ii ied bank address

IPok e Poke to sped f ied bank add rets

iRamclose Close data file opened wiih HUmoptn

IR.imrie4d Format data area into records

Ifl a mopen Define area of RAM fo r Data

Hafmw) Reed Specified record from RAM

IRamwrrte Write specified record to RAM

(Records Calculates the number of records available from

reserved area

Retu m Return from a IGosu b

IRun Runs a program written under Mas

ISave Save program greater than one bent

tScreen in Load 1 &k picture from video RAM

IScreen out Store picture to video RAM

IScreens Ca leu lates number of a vai labte video RAM banks

IStow Cancels Vast

I Spool on Turns on 32k printer buffer

I Spool off Turns off buffer

lUnmask Remove graphics mask

f Video on Divides RAM into video area

■Video off Returns video area to normal

—

mi ^Jiw r t tv t t . ttt t -

THE MOUSETRAP II

In the December issue of Amtech, the AMTIX!
technical wi**o, FRANCO FREY, gave the AM X
MOUSE a long and strenuous workout. Since then
AMX have considerably altered the creature's
software, in particular the main section, AMX ART,

Most Significant ry the mouse
now does rts thing in full tech
tricolour In order to manipulate
the variety of available colour*
several new options have had to
be included into the software,
The pull down Options menu
now includes a Paint option, As
soon as Paint is selected a

R alette of coloured patterns,, or
etches is displayed on the left.
The hatches are made up from
four different inks, two of which
can be altered However, if you
have set ink 2 to be red and later
chanpe it to green the areas of
red in the drawing area wall
change accordingly. In effect
this means you can have four
colours only The two variable
inks can also be called from the
lines menu and then used for
lines, text or as a coloured paint.
A second important change is
the inclusion of a zoom facility
When the cursor pufls down the
options menu and placed on
zoom a small box appears over
the drawing, A *oorn window
with a U X 14 pixel grid will
appear, duplicating the area
under the small bo*, As the box
is moved so The zoom window
moves to avoid obscuring the
picture area being examined.

Pressing execute forces the
cursor into the zoom window so
if con be used to point to indi
vidua) pixels. The zoom window
can be sc rolled, in any direction,
pixel by pixel , from within the
window using the cursor and
the three mouse buttons the
colour of individual pixets can
be altered.

The earlier software did not
provide any means of
cataloguing the files on a disk,
and if was all too easy to forget
the name of a picture or pattern
file. The file menu now ha% a
Directory opt ton The whole
package has been made easier
to use oy a much improved
manual which is considerably
more imformative than the
earlier version.

Product AMX Mouse
Manufacturer Advanced Mem-
ory Systems
Price: £83 96

The upgrade service is free All
you have to do is return the
original disk or cassette-

Before we have any more phone calls I wttl apologise for the none
appearance of the CP/M section test month Simply Roy had
written his Share, and a bit more. When art came to stkk everything
down they found that they just couldn't ftt the entire piece in These
Hung* happen Roy is back this month with mor* new* i nd re v i e w s
of the treebw CP/M software.

If you read through the news about the Ami trad war show you
should get excited with the number of potential goodies thai are
due to appear. In hardware terms the Ami! red must* by now. be
than most In this issue we take a krafc el the new
board for thr 464 from Germany, and tt you think thai
Sounds clever just wart till neat month and reed about the
board for the 6 128 Progress is being made on the software front am
wel Iwrth packages like the Animator and Mu**c Processor so there
will be plenty to Keep you. and us, busy lor the ne*t twelve month*
But, in the interests of all who buy these new products Amtech
would Mke to hmm of your problems, dissapomtment* and ideas of
Improvement If you have any comments Of suggestions then don't
hesitate to get in touch so we tan all benefit

In the meantime here are this month"* selection el |
keep sending them in.

FAT JOYCE

Dear AMTECH
Could you tt»u me whether
upgrading the RAM disc (or
should it be desk), on an Amstrarf
8256 is merety a marts* of
plugging in some 256K bit chips,
of lldns or faster, into the empty
sockets inside the computer . or
is it, as I suspect, slightly more
complicated than that?

I am sure there are many other
8256 owners who would be very
interested lo know the answer.
PS. S*nce your maga/ine caters
for Amstrad computer users,
would rt be possible to gave a
special section for those of us
who use or own an 6256
Edmund Ward. Sutton
CokMMd West MMtands

It Is. as you suspect, slightly
more complicated than that
The extra sockets are there
because Amstrad original ly
intended to use W th ips when
the Joyce was designed But by
the time tht machine came into
being made the cost of the 16k
chips had fallen to such a degree
that they were used instead, the
result being a few empty holes.
While rt i* » fairty simple
operation there are a number of
ancillary operations which need
lo be performed rf I he computer
h gping to reotpriM d»a new
memory

As yet I am not sure exact ly
how the job is done but I am
finding out and hope to tell ell
neirt month, In the meantime
Mewstar software produce en
upgrade kit so you could try
them There is one small point.
Delving into the innards of your
Joyce will not do much for it's
guarantee,, so you should bear
that in mind

I don't think it would be
reasonable lo set aside a special

Joyce section just yet but since
the 8JS6 outnumbers our 6 t2f s
by a ratio of two to one we will
certainly be dealing with B2S6
specific software when the i

LONGER LEAD TO
FAINTER PICTURES?

Dear Amtech
I have just seen an
advertisement for Monitor
e«iension Cable* priced at
G6.05 I have two questions to
ask about this item and f hope
you may be able to answer
them

If I purchased extension
cables would this affect graphics
Quality?

The company selling this

erhtuiiir uxt ension is
jhtshade, bul do you know of
any other firms that may be
selling th<& item cheaper?
D Plows, Mikdenhall Suffolk

Providing the cable isn't loo
long la couple of leaf should be
line) there shouldn't be any
not iceebte loss of signal I must
admit that I don t know of
anyone else setting such a cable
and, in truth, I haven't even
bothered to look simply
because if I wanted an
extension cable I would make
one. Simply pop out to one of
the high street electrical shops
and ask for one 6 pm Df hi socket,
one 6 pin DIM plug and a length
of flex with 5 wires After that
you can Join the two together
simply by making sure each pin
on the socket is joined to the
corresponding pin on the plug, I
cant promise you are going to
save a great deal of money,
perhaps (ust two or three
pounds — but you'll have a lot
more fun.

AMTIX March 1986 55

'HHliiig^Vl

FROM TAPE TO DISK

DearAmtixl

Could you please tell me if thsre
wt any prog rami mailable for
transferring games on taw to
disc I am tick of waiting for big
games to load in to the
computet from cassette when
there is a perfectly good disc
drive on the 612S

Also, are there any Level 9
adventures compaiFbie with the
6128? 7Snow£*tfand Cofass*!
Adventure carta i n ly a r e n ' c 1
i Barber

would be to make mure that you

Lead is perfect and then, if

tibletakey

There are a number ol tape to
disk p r og ra m s We reviewed
two of them in issue 1 . and you
will find al least two advertiser!
selling such utiirtie* within the
pews of this issue

flie level 9 advent u res
certainty can be made to run on
a 6 128 and here's how

fTape

Memory &2FFF
Load ■■", 0.3000
As soon as the program has
taded type in call &3000
That shou Id work for all of the
early Level f adventures;
Cofossal Adirenture, Snawbaif,
Adventure Quest. Dungeon
AtfveniitTG end Lords of Ttme.

UNFRIENDLY CASSETTES

Dear Amtech

I am en anguished Arnold 61 2S
owner who has in desperation
been forced to sat fingers to
keyboard end wmg you a tetter I
as* you, on bended knee, and In
my desperation, 'what hind of
cassette recorder do you use
with your 61 26 Of 664*" It
using an 'el cheepo' [Ob with a
WH Smith logo, which always
used to handle even the most
contorted Spectrum
hyperloatis, but just can t hand It?
my Arnold. I am using proper
ceaiBtti leads and it is definitely
not a vol unw or tone problem,
I've even checked the heed
alignment but to no avail
•Km

TMels very strange We ONLY
use 'at cheapo' cassettes and
And they work vary well. It Isn't
gotngfo letamWt we use a
number Of different machines r
Triumph. Matsul and Hitachi I
don't think it's fair to blame
your cassette especially since it
fun provided such sterling
service with a Spectrum. May I
suggest that your best move

66 AMTIX March 1986

possii

along to Disora — a helpful
bunch — and charm the man
Into letting you try your
cassette with one of their
Amstrads Of course rf your tape
deck doesn't work with one of
the shops machines you can be
as rude to rt as you like

WHO IS LUDUNSK1 ?

Dear Am lech
! have an Amst rad 6 1 28
complete with disk drive and
wish to purchase a Maths "0"
tevel disk for it. I believe
Ludhnski Computer Assisted
Learning cki one bul I have no
idea of their address or of the
COSt Of the disk. Can you help?
P Pfisani, Aktershot Hants

At first I thought you were
messing: us about. I mean I asfc
you — LUDUnski However,
after a quick chat with our
educational man I was told they
mm better known as LCI They
confirmed they have just
released two maths packages;
one to take you up to '0" level
maths called Micromaths. and
another for 'A d level standard
called Megamaths Both
packages cost Ofl each and
come with two books and two
tapes or one disk. If you want to
get in touch with them then try
0784 66771

COMMS FROM A
HOSPITAL BED

Dear Amtech,

I am referring to the vy 52000
modem (E 129.95) and RS232
serial interlace I £49, 95 1 in the
December issue of Amtech.
Please could you teli me where I
can buy them and any other
information which I might need
to know if I was to use rnem for
communication*
Babu Koya, Midulesborough
General Hospital

You shou kjn "t have too much
trouble getting your paws on a
WS2uOD, it s made by Miracle
Technology and they can be
rMCh#donfM?3 2lST41 Thai
particular modem offers a very
broad range of communication

Sotoeota allowing the user to
Ik to just about any computer
going. There Mm twu stand
alone interface* available. The
first r* from Amstrad
themselves so you had better
phone them mt Brentwood to
inquire about that, Honey soft

do their own interface and
software which together cost a
little more than the Amstrad
interface, but is generally
reckoned to be me best
performer You can contact
Honeysoft on 0873 573440 You
had better get in touch with
them soon because they ere due
to move back to Brentwood and
I don't know their new number 1
I hope you get better soon!

BAK TO CASSETTES

Dear Amtech

I have recently taken the pi u nga
endoutchased my first micro, a
§12S\ Like many others I can
neither find nor afford vast
numbers Of disks end therefore I
want to use cassettes for long
term storage

Unfortunately I cannot
persuade the machine to copy
from disk to tape, although
chapter 1. page 77, of the
manual clearly implies this can
be done

Can you provide an idiot

utrJe?

Ftoesel

The answers are all in there
somewhere but it will lake a lot
of wort* to dig them out
Essentially there are two
solutions to your problem
Amsdos will allow you to
re-direct any data to the tape
rnterf ace rather man the disk,
with the instruction Itape. The
problem with this is that it isn't
going to be much use it you are
tiding a program like Tasword
6128, unless you know the areas
of memory where the text or
data is located By far the
simplest trick would be to use a
disk as normal and then at the
end of the day transfer the data
onto tapes under CP/M If you
dig out the CrVM2-2 system disk
and boor it up you will notice
rhai there are two COM flies,
one called CLOAD the other
called CSAVE On* will foed a
cassette a cassette ASCI l fl ie
onto disk while the other will
save files out onto tape.
Naturally this will mean your
having to keep one or both of
rh use COM files on your data
di&k but that shouldn't be loo
much of a problem.

If you look at chapter & page 13
of your manual it tells you how
ro move different file types
around — it's not very explicit
but that s where the fun begins.

Thai's it for another month. H you have any hints or tips to pass on to
our readers, or indeed any technical problem* write to us at
LETTERTECH. AMT1X1. POBOX 10. LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE SY1
10©

MAKE A NEWSAGENT
HAPPY

DeerAmtiM,

I am both a newsagent and
owner of a BJbG and would like
the latter to help me with my life
as the former Are there any CP/'
M programs available lo
perform all mundane little tasks
that newsagents have to cope
with. I have seen a very clever
program running on a Wren but I
cam femember the name or
even the supplier Can you help?
I am also having a little trouble
finding a database for the Joyce
I know there are quite a few
About but they are quite
ex pensive and since I only realty
want the thing to play with I
don't think it would be worm
pay rng a lot of money
Mr Walker, Bournemouth.

I have phoned around and
managed to trace three
newsagent programs The ted
news is none ol
software house* J
produce en Amstrad version, or
even seem Interested , The
cheapest package rei ailed at
COO but rt did seem to do all
sorts of wonderful things What
you need is a Firm who will rJo
the conversion for you Wrth
that in mind I got in touch wrth
Newter They to4d me they
intend to market such a
p ackage, co n v e rte d for the
Amstrad machine* At the
moment they mrw Stilt trying to
decide on the best packages. It
would seem your beet course of
action would be to get In touch
with Newstar on 0277 220973
and make sure that they keep
you In the picture.

A low cost database shou Ion t
present too much of a problem.
Sage PLC have just released one
for €69 95, Newstar sail
Gambase for £49 95 and the old
trusty Amstrad genius from
C a mb el ao h is rumoured to be
constructing something along
the lines of DBASE H You could
try pestering John Campbell on
01 &W 5058 and find out what
his Intentions are rf you only
want a database to 'play' with
perhaps you might have a go a
writing one in Mallard Basic
which provide* no end of
powerful features designed for
lust such a task

STEVEN SPIELBERG

Presents

ROBERT ZEMECKIS

§ J *

3*,

THE COMPUTER PROGRAM FROM

Available on Spectrum 48 K Plus, Commodore 64
and Amstrad from Electric Dreams Software
31 Carlton Crescent, Southampton, Hampshire
SOI 2EWTel: (0703} 229694

©UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS INC.

SOFTWARE

WINTER
GAMES

Bre athtaking Graphics

You re an athlete at the loae Winter
Gamesat Calgary Alberta. Carwda. You re
about to move across snow and ice with
as much speed, strength, endurance and
grace as you can muster in the blustery
cold-

This is the winter portion of the world's
foremost Amateur sports competition.
You'll match your skilb against the top
athletes from a hundred countries,

Be proud, Today you stand among the
elite few whose courage and stamina will
be tested by these Winter Games, Thou-

sands of white doves symbolically fly to
the countries of the world with the
message of peace -And the news that the
Winter Games have begun- This is it - your
chance to go for the Gold!

BEACH-HEAD II BRUCE LEE

Gripping Arcade Action

Beach Head II features all your favourite
characters in the continuing saga of the
battle for Kuhn- Lin.

Enter the Dictator, known ^ The Dragon ;
an evil, bloodthirsty, power crazed
manik A brilliant military tactician, lie
has been trapped and outnumbered
many times in battle but managed to turn
the tables on his opponents through sheer
cunning and ni thJcssness ,

Pitched against the Dragon is Allied Com-
mander J RStryker. A courageous fighter,
he quickly rose through the ranks during
World War II: and is widely respected
for his integrity and leadership abilities,

Twenty secret chambers to explore
Unique multiple player options

Dazzling graphic* and animation

In Bruce Lee" you will experience I lie
power and the glory of Bruce Lee. one o!
the greatest masters of the martial arts.

A* Bruce Lee. you will confront a barrage
of vicious foes. You must penetrate the
fortress erf the I vil Wizard and claim hi*
fortunes. Destroying \ he Wizard will earn
you immortality and infinite wealth 1

; ••V: |

fin

1 Btv

-ifi

U.& GOLD ON THE AMSTRAD*- O

Thought Provoking Multiscreen Action

Intrude Rube Goldberg style images
provide (lie challenge in cxittin^ screens
inspired by the Steven SihtIIkth movie*
Deadly bats, demonic flying vkulis, arid
poisonous slime arc just a few of the perils
lo avoid while figuring out !hjw lo co-
ordinate the movements of the characters
lo solve the puj/les ami outwit their
*ttfccT*aries.

Ii b impossible lo get through *iny screen
Aithout creatively using both the char-
acters hiHiut d in ill n hiuptti
you to help the Goonics rliiiie \Uv evil
Fratelli Gang and wvr thrir homes from
forccksure*

pi .

DAMBUSTERS

Superb Graphics and Sound

At 21.15 hour?* on the r vcningof May 16th
W41. a flight of specially prepared
Liik.lvUi fiombcrs left K.AJ. Scamplon
for Germany And so. one of the most dar-
ing m u I courageous raids of the Second
World War was underway. Now you fkive
the opportunity to relive the drama
and excitement of thi_s famous action via
your Amstrad comput c r Yc n j wil 1 1 ake the
pans of Pilot. Navigator. Front and Rear
Gunners. Bomb Aimer and flight Engineer
as you play this authentic reconstruction
of the night s events. The multiple screen
action is tompkmented by I compre-
hensive package of flight documents and
authentic material from the period.

ImhSNI

IMPOSSIBLE
MISSION

of the Year 1965-

orttish Hicro Awards

Message from the Agency computer.....

...Your mission. Agent 4 125 is to foil a
horrible plot. From an underground
laboratory FJvin, the scientist, is holding
the world hostage underthreat of nuclear

iiiniluUt ii m You must penetrate his
stronghold, avoid his human-seeking
robots and find pieces of the security
code.

Somersault over the robots or use a
precious snooze code to deactivate them
long enough to search each room Use the
Agency's computer to unscramble the

passwords from the code pieces, or try to
solve them yourself. You d better
beware. ...This rnisskm is stamped
IMPOSSIBLE!"

v".

^Jr^

■rffefl

a~- — .

*^2L,

r~n

L^il.'i .

m afli ■

Mm J

ox,

.**■ ■

mSBMl

VS Gold Limited Unit 10.

The Parkway Industrial Centre

Heneage Street Birmingham B7 4lY

Telephone: 021-359 86ai Tele* 33/268.

GREAT GAME AFTER ANOTHER !

'All k recti ffooti ai fcen on the Commodate M

JOMPUTER CRAF1 ilCS LTD.

SALES 051 -709-4462
TELEX 628332 GAMEC

QPFrToi im 4Rk:.- roMMODORF 84

ijiirili:"!

MANY ARE THE
SUBSTITUTES

few weeks, ago I met a rival of mme m fbe guise of
ZZAPf 64 s Whfte Wizard Whrlsr chemng, he gave
me i phone number with the cryptic command to
ring it on the following Thursday This I duly did and
found myself in a voice operated computer game
Called Th& Train Game, il consisted of a recorded
voice that gave out a series of instructions for play
and lhen asked me to repeat certain words tor a
voice test.

Some narration would follow, ending with a question and stone to
prompt my response This could be any of the single syllable words
issued at the beginning of the game. After a short pause, the
narration would continue on the b**i* of my test response. The plot
involves a murderer at work on the London lube system The idea is
that you travel on the lube until you confront him and bring him to
justice. The game was actually very small am it was only a test for
future projects but in my case ihe game tasted about fifteen minutes
for 1 successfully completed il

The system was only on line for a week bur it opens up many
opportunities for future adventuring. Thecomputer adventure game
will be available to those who don't even possess a home computer.
Before long, multiple word entries will be feasible and the
adventurer will have a whole new world to explore
Be seeing you.

Melbourne House, £14.95

t has been long
in the making
but finally, after
no mean amo-
unt of pre*
launch hype,
the final version
has appeared
on the shelves
- and at the News he id offices
The package is certainly mouth
watering A two cassette game
and a copy of the first part of the
legendary Tolkien trilogy itself t
ftiftowship of the Rmg, which
you could probably read from
cover to cover while the game is
loading. Aside from thai, a fat
video case and fifteen pound
price tag make the product
complete.

When the game starts the
option to play one of three
characters u available. Frodo.
Sam end Pippin are all potential
player characters Those not
chosen end up as companions
The starting location is Frgdqs
burrow, cosily actuated in the
Shire. A good ex am matron of
the surroundings makes supp
lies present themselves to you
AM that needs to be done then is
take the road to ftivendell to
meet Gandaff

Of course, it all sounds far
easier than it actually is. The
black riders are out and about
and no one can be trusted. Of
course there are many other
hazards, as those who have read
the book will be well aware.
Remembering that Hilt double

cassette game is only one third
of the intended package. I
becomes apparent that much of
the detail from The original novel
should survive the translation to
a game easily

interaction is via the key
board, as you would expect
from this type of game. From
lhen on you arc plunged into the
fantasy world of Melbourne
Houses IngVish. Inglish is their
vary own interpreter and the
company are proud of it. When
The Hobbtt was released, there
wasn't much to match ft. Cap*
able Of handling limited multiple
command Input if* onfy Haw lay
in a series of bugs that some-
times led to confusing answers.
The (presumably) updated ver-
sion used in this game is sadly

lacking When simultaneously
presented* with several objects, I
typed the relatively simple com-
mand GET ALL Only to be totd
that there was no alcohol in this
area 1 Some attempts at com-
mumcahon with other charac-
ters led to replies consisting of
nothing more than garbage.
Response is slow and this soon
becomes anndy ing

Apart from this annoyance,
your companions have a lot to
answer for when rt comes to
time wasting. They are very
slow indeed The computer
never ceases to remind you thai
these other characters are
present This is a redundant
process to say the toast as there
is a graphic display on the left of
the screen which displays the

AMTIX March 1986 61

^ve n:eur4

ILL

::::i:::ii

::::::::::::::

wme information just as well
The only result of this duplicity is
even more delays m an already
si oi>v system.

There are good points. Occa-
sional graphics areas add lo the
narrative tent. These are fash-
ioned in Level 9 sty le impress^
ionism and work fairly well

Sflttf*

4***

Unfortunately, the rest of the
screen rngmiams a slightly clut-
tered look whether They are
there or not, The graphics dis-
play on the left is usenil for at a
glance information but seems
only parti si ly finished Off in the
way rt funs over into the lent
section.

Initial ty, the game is fairly
simple to play Them are no
really tricky pu riles beyond
looking past your nose and there
are few dangers a novice could
nol deal with. However the
further into rhe pame a player
gets, the more sinister and tre-
acherous play becomes. This is
per hap* an underrated feature
of the game It works in a similar
fashion to the book At first the
venture seems to be little more
than a Sunday outing but before
long matters of life anij death
abound

Whatever I or anyone else
says about it. Lard of the Rm

Roing to be a hit. Tolkien is still a
ighfy marketable name Unfor-
tunately I don't think this is
justified Tha game is pretty
good but is still badly Rawed in
the areas of play ability and
interaction tor a 'mags game." It
deserves some attention but
ultimately fails to compare with
classics like The W&ftn in
Paradise

Atmosphere 83%
Plot 81%
Interaction 74%
Value for money 72%
Overall 72%

62 AMTIX March 1986

TAKE COMMAND Of

YOUR TOMORROW

TODAY.

THIS OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS RLE
KM OFFICIAL USE ONLY AMD ONLY
PERSON Oft Ff RSONS HEREBY /WW
IT. THIS RUE IS TO BE USED FOR ITS
ONLY, AND ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE 1
IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN BY TW 1

FOR ISSUANU FOR AUTHOPHZiTION JJ,"^ 1

°SL

AN ENDLESS DREAM

Last fiwfrtfc, Gary Penn em) |
reviewed the flnrt three Infocom
nteaen hi the Amttred (*«*

AMTIX 1 4) The Ijmttafran* of
time and available *, P ac* m«*nt
mat the last Two reviews had to
wait until now For those c+f you
gjfcojntg^lMttiiOiilti^ wper

~i*ino«*ef The two

muii^WS

^ thm follow cany no
flings The u-ason ii timple
The quality of Inform adven
ton* is incredibly high To fate
thifn would be to make them
•J 11 ** 1 *" COmptaribi* to other l
"WWttufaaames — which they
tl ^-J™W «ha quality of
tutu re infucom naieete* fair
ihan they shaJl be rated Until
then .consider them a|l to be
AMTIX ! Accolades Read on

Infocom, (Softsel},
£19 95 disk

oln the Patrol
and see the Gal

axyT Taking the
poster's advice,
you had signed
up straight

away, At thai
moment you
NUl com

mis>oned as Ensign 7th Class
Code KP:8. licensed to swab
And that's about as near to
heroism as you evergot on your
interstellar travels. The chances
of being left lo fend for yourself
on a distant world with the
chance to save it from almost
certain doom are several million
to one against. Only natural
then, that mis be the plot for an
Infocom game.

The packaging contains all
sorts of entertaining material
including a brochure for the
Stellar Patrol, some diary notes,
post cards from ^ery weird
resorts and, of course, the game
disk The goodies contained
with in the package are superb A
brochure for the Stellar Patrol is

superbly designed to promote
the image of jingoistic space-
fa re rs, Boldly going where
Angels U^r to tread." The im
porta nee of explaining the ne-
cessity of f i II i ng out 600 page tax
returns in triplicate to backward
worlds is emphasised with just
the right level of pretentious-
ness. The notes from your diary
make the basis for the lead up to
the game. After being victimised
by a malicious commanding
officer, you have to make the
break and abandon ship. From
that moment on, you're on your
own . . .

One of the first things a player
will nol ice about this game is the
clock. Time only passes when
the program responds to an in-
put from the player. However,
this is Galactic Standard Time
The basic unit of lime is nowlhe
millichron One thousand millic
hrons make up one chron and
ten chrons correspond to Our
own twenty four hour clock. The
other thing that becomes almost
immediately noticable is the
beau rot racy Galactic civilisa-
tion is built arourwl a cross
between an Orwelhan night-
mare and the more subtley

disturbing overtones of Brant
Nothing is simple to achieve. A
variety of identity cards and
codes are often needed for the
most inconsequent i ill of actions

Of course it's all designed to
be most frustrating and suc-
ceeds admirably in this respect.
Only Mereukys sharp wit and
poignant humour make you
want to continue through the
malaise of almost impossible
odds. The game actually be-
comes quite tense towards the
end but beware It's all too easy
to make a crucial mistake early
on in the game #nd find yourself
up the creek without a paddle
tater on

Input is standard Infocom
fare; that If to say it's years
ahead of any other system. The
result of the confidence gained
using such a system is that the
player is not afraid to iry some-
thing different that would be
impossible to achieve in a more
simply crafted adventure and
possibly succeed So the game
is a joy to play in that respect

t*SI

"a*** whh » no ''third m lKJK

UNION

*«4^

There- are momenta of obvious
inspiration from Douglas
Adams" books The necessity fo
find and use a towel tor recti y fs
just one of these. The thing is,
i Key «re ell wotted ^nio the
game in such a clever way thai
even the pla^rar^tic elements ol
humour work in en original end
refreshing manner Although
most of the obvious inspiration
is Adams oriented, ranrtfotf
beans a closer resemblance to
Bob Shaw's excellent SF com-
edy Who Gobs Here Khan any
thing else

Pfanatfaft ts rated as standard
level which means it's supposed
to be very hard indeed, This is
the cm* but not for quite the
reasons you might expect, In
some Intocom games of this
complexity, pu/zles are nor-
mally difficult in that plenty of
lateral ih inking is required to
solve them. Some lateral ihmfc
ing will help you in this game but
moat of th«? problem* are com-
plex because there is simply to
much to do in each case It's
quite difficult to explain without
giving the plot away but if you
can imagine having to run en
oond like a headless chicken
whilst trying to save an entire
world. fVaf^tfetf is the game for
you,

mmmmzmmmmm?^z

J SPEND THE NEW YEAR IN THE 25th CENTURY AND TAKE A TRIP TO PARADISE

THE WORM IN PARADISE

-£0

L*<r*] t have spent J 2 months enhancing
shou adventure syHem wjih wortd-be snng
feature* foi thm coming ymmim mnd THE
WORM HI W JUUUHSE is Eh a Orel gun* la

uh Ehu new *ys!*m

"The Austin * flaxen 1 1 jufl produced, w
TKWOIMm PAXAD1SE 1 new :

ihey ve created s whole now bell ijwnw m
«dv«niuf« technology The lai«*t till*
oHeii t 1 000- word vocabulary, the most
sophisticated p*TWJ *ver mrroxporaied in
# ciseenebased adventure, and the refine
menl of multitasking You'd hsv* to
apend ui evening wrth & Rog*l* Thewutu*
to come up with enough luperlanvei to do
lusiics to THE WORM P4 PARADISE, if
not only otter* atuwung itlbei! at time*
dii!uibififl) ongmaitty in the overworked
rvmlm of science fiction bul also embodi*«
staia-of-ihe-arT programming technique*
whjch wiU Allow you etfordeaslv to give
rajgn in j n nrji nun of creative deduction' '
- Cammodm User

An axc*U«nt adventure, atmospheric.

deviouft and full of the ingredient! that
haws established Level 9 as probably in*
beti English adventure wntmg house to-
data ' ' - Compute* Trad* Weekly

An AMTtX ACCOLADE "ftie game u
very good in terms of uiieiscuon iutm-
atingly original and clever OVERALL 91 H

— Ajniix

! probably the company t
iotai '

at adventure
Mlcroecope

"1 will deecrtb* Lhu gim« in 3 words. Sheer
unadulterated brilliance Rarely hava I
played inch a wonderful, enthralling
adventure The puzzle e u» enta ruining.
lough and logical The tterybne it umm*~
culare, in its originality, concepv and
4pplLc*norv This, game incorporates Level
9 a new parser which has to be used ro be
believed Complex, and multiple input
commend* mm understood, and the game
is etiiemely user -friendly In ihorc.
mortgage your computer, and get a copy
Immediately!"

— The Adva mine r» C] ub Dossier

YOUR SINCLAIR MEGACAME 9 10

- Toui SincLau

"The final bkg dilterenca ovef ptevioui
games ta the use of the vocabulary You
can LOOK, or comae, bus rou can also
LISTEN and even SMELL Level fi claim
Eh«[ in* pEogrwn will understand over 1000
wordi sbour five times aa much as mew*
other present-day cassette advantuiet
our of this world" AA Rating 87%

- Amend Action

THE WORM IN PARADISE La available on
$ midO* All vera lona with the axcapEiono!
the IPC have mace than 200 pbctuiea

COur list or games lor other nuoiea —
ENTEHPRtSE. LYMX MEMOTECH
NASCOM OfUCl up available on requeat
pLoue lend SAE \

Pteeae send me a I"REE FULL COLOUR FOSTER with more details ot Level 3 ad ventures on Ihe beck I enclose a mumped self
addressed envelope about 9' by 6" *

Plessa aend me THE WORM EN PARADISE on BSfleeM for the

AM$T1UI04M/i«4/ftUB ATARI MK BBC UK D COMMODORE «#[ MSXeAK SPECTRUM 46X

t enclose a cheque or postal order for £9 9S *

My Name m HyAddreaeii , — . ^^ -^_^

' Advvurtujw o4iunf« thm l/Tchouitf mad # Funpch*^ u # a r 1m r.kvr* 4r*ir for £10 99 lot thm *mm, of an ntf* m»b o iMf fepfy coupon aw *be JHMier-

Ltvmi 9 Compullng, P.O. Bon 3d. Wflitan-tupar-Mirv, Avon B524 fUfl

- -tl

AMTIX March 1986 63

^.VEN^UREjj

Infocom (Softsel), £19 95,
disk

e&sfaik&r is Info
corn's first tntio
ducfory advent
ure aimed at
children from
nine years old
upwards Con-
sequently the
puMim and my
sleries in the adventure are
far less demanding to the aver*
age player than their mors
complex counterparts Packag-
ing is likely to make even the
most hardened of gamers (like
in Rign&m want to take a
closer look. The large formal slip
case contains a nautical than: of
Frnbtnn Bay (the starting point
of the adventure), a log book
with game instructions, room
for fog entries and some blue-

Erints, some Infocards (coded
int curds) and a sticker
AM the instruct ions are aimed
unmistakably at the young ad-
venturer (right down to a Totter
from the President a! the start of
the log book) It all makes you
wish you were ten again so you
could enjoy it without being
embarrassed aboul being seen
playing it, The instruct ions make
everything c j ear t0 fogm with.

Your character is in the offices of
Inventions Unlimited where the
submarine Scimitar is berthed.
The submarine has yet to be
taken on a test dive but an
emergency has arisen at the
Aquadome several kilometres
off shore. The Scimrtar is the
only vessel near enough to
reach it in time (such is the stuff
of Saturday Matinees — now
where did they go? I. There are
beasties and shipwrecks to be
encountered on ihm way and
there may even be a trailer at the
Aquadome

The game has the full comp-
liment of tnfologic commends
Evidently the company don't let
standards slip by patroni-
sing the younger end of the
market But all the usual details
about interacting with the game
are presented m refreshingly
atmospheric fashion. The sub
itself is fitted with a whole host
of easy to operate sensing

Su ioment allowing the exarr
on of almost every pheno-
menon discovered.

Normally, if you're stuck on an
Infocom game, ft** necessary to
shell out several pounds for an
invisiclucs hook to help you on
your way factually these books
usually do more than just offer
hints but they are stilt quite
expensive) twt in SMSteNftr
there is a collection of hint cards,
The answers (or clues) to var-
ious problems are printed in
faint ink and overprinted with
the name of the game, making
I them impossible to see acct-

64 AMHX March 1986

dentally Run the card through
the red plastic window in the
sleeve however and the heavy
printing disappears leaving a
clearly typed piece or infor-
mation behind. Simple but ef-
fective. Enough of these cards
are supplied to satisfy the mosi
impatient of novice adventurers.

Although this is designed as a
'junior' adventure game, it wilt
keep a more experienced adv
emumi busy for a few hours
The trouble is. some of the
dialogue seems out of place.
Most of the dialogue and plot is
rather corny but this is in char
acfer and doesn't make you
cringe so much. But some des-
criptions and messages seem to
be in a style which doesn't quite
fit the 'comic book' approach of
the game and yet neither does it
reach the high standard of In
focorn's more complex efforts.

There is no denying the tech-
nical excellence in making an
adventure game fast paced
enough to make it exciting for
the young but thoughtful player;
however Throughout thore is a
terrific atmosphere (you can
almost taste the seltk Really
though, older or more exi
enced players probably won't
get much satisfaction oui nf the
game apart from simple fun and
From having the game as pari of

a collection, The newcomers to
adventure gaming, perhaps not
so used to logic puzzles and
mysteries rather than alien-
rapping, will almost certainly
thoroughly enjoy the yarn Com
paring Seasiaiker to Fr># Hitch

Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
would be rather like comparing
Star Wars to 2001 Both are
excellent in their own right but
the Jatter has fur more depth
f pardon ihe pun I Anyway, I like
the sticker

rOHFOPUlDfi

"The most

advanced, original and involving

adventure you will ever play... r

Without peer in terms of scope,

imagination and involvementr-n^cfanmWKU,

P O V R N E

V () U S

CLOSET FROTHERS

COME OUT— AND

WIN A COPY OF A

GREAT ADVENTURE

GAMES BOOK . . .

Here'i something r Df vou in ™„^ -

S^Tf^**?* 1 *" coasting ofih^JdM^ T* ^^oocisd d t&

"unanieiheww*"^^ 7

2 wh-ch author Mp^d Uva. *> **«""

3, From which piogr ■mming tangiws*

i W*chadv^regamah*-Mptn«Cc™»

5 „, uamatnmtt » you •ncourt* Mifftw L,d 1fl

6 In which arc** wSvcnluMJA*™?
&?£»*• * vour furtive *«**?

Norman nr^wj^y,

»nKartd!ha*nlr(«lo:

TM you h*« « - or n*. » SH^S?™ ^ «a^'* ■

postcard . -

AMT 1K ADVENTUttEfl COMPEtTTlON

PQBOXIO

LUDLOW

SHROPSHIRE

SYS10B

k. ^.ntifiad bv the Pink Tie
PS Warn.™ - Fro*** Win ^^^K'JSon Jha™ t**f

Synrtfo

wgrnb

1 uapa>

l the bio

66 AMTTX March 1986

►ADVENTURE]

■!■•■■■ » + ■■■■!■"

msirr.rrTT

A J Bradbury,
£795 Collins

A J Bradbury is bv no means the
firs! to venture into the field of
guides to writing adventure

ames on a home computer.

trier more established authors
have explored the Amstrad
range of micros in particular So
it was with a certain sense of
'deja vi j J that I began reading
book. I am no programmer
but the book is designed lo teach
you how IC write complex, nffi
Cient adventure games in BASIC
f\t too far beyond mw
ability to understand. As a result
I found myself working through

the chapters rather rapidly with-
out losing track of the author's
instructions.

Ttie book begins simply en-
ough with a somewhat chched
dialogue fitted from a hypo-
thetical adventure From There it
improve* rapidly as the author
explores the usefulness of var-
ious BASIC commends in the
content of game design The
explanations are clear and read-
able {suitable to grace the pages
of the usually semi crypt te in-
st ruction books all too fre-
quently packaged with a micro).

Bradbury never makes as-
sumptions. Various philoso-
phies of game design ate deal,
with in a logical process that
leads to decisions about imple-
mentation that are then exe-
cuted in an ongoing program as
it develops through the book.
The result is a coherent pro-

Sression of the design prote-
ure that anyone with an iota of
intelligence would be able to
follow It also lends shape and
direction to the book enabling
those already capable of more
advanced programming to
maintain interest.

Very tittle space is given over
to 'filler' material However one
area where that does fall into the
trap of extraneous explanation
is when Bradbury deals with the
task of preparing and mapping
an adventure game True, a
[treat deal of care should go into
this integral part of the process
but the number of examples of
good and bad methods soon
Became little more than ■ long
winded way of stating the obv-
ious. Other than this temporary
lapse however, it is only fair to
point out Ihe high standard of

textual quality

Eventually/Bradbury gets to
f rips with the subjects that often
oil novices — data compaction

and multiple command parsing.

Considering the limitations of a

h+gh level language such as
BASIC, very good methods are
found to deal wrth both of these
areas effectively. The results*
following Bradbury's instruc-
tions are sup ri singly detailed,
fast and rewarding adventure
frameworks leaving the imagin-
ation up to you There ere still
those who believe adventures
can be written in BASIC and be
marketed as such I doubt whe
ther thla la now a commercially
viable proposition, but even so,
the idea of enthusiasts creating
theif own adventures is enter-
taining and potentially
educational.

Also included in the text are
Chapters on sound effects and
the use of user defined graphics
to add aesthetic touches to rhe
finished program Of course,
these sections are presented as
take it or leave it options but the
ideas expressed in the chapters
ere interesting end up to the
standard in the resi of ihe book.
The other clever feature is the
outline Of a tongue in cheek
adventure game to write your
self, based on whet you've
learned from the rest of the
book.

At 232 pages, this medium
format book offers a full course
and should teach even those
with experience a thing or two
By and large, however, this book
is aimed at the aspiring begin
ner. Given the going rate for any
kind of computer literature, it
does warrant the eight pound
price tag but it's one more entry
in an already crowded market It
will never go down in history but
deserves success nonetheless

I i lium

TTTTTTT

- 1 ■ 1 1 1
. . . . . .

+ ■-■■{■-■ + ■ •|t* t • -l - i- + P * - ht't-

is*^h|s!!i!Hi!!H!!!!|!!!i!!il!|!i!ll!ii

Every month from now on.
AMTIX 1 adventurers will
haw the if own hints see
Uon in the AMTIX! ARCANA So
if you have any maps, hints,
problems, criticisms of my re-
view*, or &m ju»t willing lo offer
help to those in need, then let
me know The lip* offered this
month are mine, but I can't cover
every game 50 your help will be
appreciated.

Every magazin* that runs ft
help page for adventur ers uses a
code to avoid giving iiway more
help than (■ necessary and a
similar procedure wilt be used
here It doesn't wd to be
compte* so a simple reversal
code w i 1 1 be u Bed as f 1 tows :

ABCDEFGHUKLMNOPGR

STUVWXYZ

becomes

ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJ

IHGFEDCBA

Simple ? Good — off we go then f

FAERIE

To enter the Underworld, you

need the following items ;

YLLGH, HDVZGVt ORG OZNK,

PMRUV !RG RH RM GSV IFXP

H2XPI but do not take HZMW

1RMT F DZGVI TOZHH, YOZXP

JFWM,

If you have had any difficulty

sconng point* — ie any point* al

all the reason 1$ BLF SZEV GL

XIVZGV Z HXLIV NLMHGVJ HZB

GSV NZTRX DLIW RM GSV

XZEVfCZREVf

And for a little esctra, HVZ1XS

XLXPVGH to find a treawre,

>» 4>

THE HITCH HIKERS GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY

I think solutions to this one
should be rationed. First off t
something that few people are
aware of initially:
UWW Z XSWHV HZMWDRX3
GL GSV WLT LFGHRWV GSV
KFY I| might not seem impor-
tant but if you don't
Here's a favourite — How 10 gel
the Babel fish:

KFG WIVHHRMT TLDM LM
SLLP XFG GLOVO LEVI TIRW
KFG HZGXSVO RM UILMG LU
SZGXS KFG QFMP NZRO LM
HZGXSVO K1VHH YFGGLM For
fun, try pressing the button after
each stage of the process More
tips for this one nexi month.

ICi STATION ZERO

How to qm rid of a (presumably)

unwanted Veti:

TL GL VHPRML EROOZTV TVG

NZGXS ZMW KJRNFH HGLEV

0RT5G NZGXS ORTSG KIRNFH

HGLEV ZMW GSILD RG 2G

BVGR

While we're at it. We might as

well get rid of the Polar bear as

well '

IVGFIM GL SVORXLKGVI URIV

U02IV (0LX2GVW RM

SVORXLKGVM

QUANN TULLA

To destroy the ship BLF MWW
GSV HGZGRXWRHIFKGLI ZMW
GSV GRNKVGYLNV XLNYRMV
GSVN GL NZPV VIStKOLWVI
WRHX GZPVGLVMTRMVULN
(MWW PVB) ZINH RGHVOU
ZFGLNZGRXZOOB Light blue
touch paper and retire . . (only
kidding)

ZORKI

Following the review last
month, here are some lips tor
those trapped in rbu realm of the
Underground Empire. Right
from ine beginning then, to gel
into the house XORfrW RM
GSILFTS GSV DRMWLD To gel
into the dungeons. NLEV GSV
IFT.

■tX

And now for something slightly
more complex As you have

Erobahly discovered, The inha*
tlanls of the Zork dungeons
have a thief in their midst. He
isn't easy to dispose of so be
careful, RU BLF NWG SRN
VZlOB LM. ZELRW SRrV lifs
easier). DZRG FMGRO BLF SZEV
Z SRTS HXLIV ZMW GSVM
URTSG SRN ORGS GSV IFHGB
WZTTVLTLLWOFXP'

LETTERS

Dear Span

... I have only had my Amstrad
throe weeks and have only one
adventure Ms called Return to
Eden from a small company by
the name of Level & — I would
not be suwfsed if you hadn't
heard of them \$uret — S*f)
This is the first Level 9 adver
t have tried and I n*ed to ask for
some tips f hangs head in
shemeV. The pilot of Snowball is
thruster happy How do I disable
him? I have got the spade in the
mole hill (pathetic isn't itf
Tim Varley P Oxon

(suggest ytiu rvadthe nejrf fatter

"SB

Dear Sean,

1 was reading your column
about helping people out with
adventure games. People who
need help are welcome to con
tact me I will be glad 10 help
people month after month The
list of games I have solved ia as
follows

1 . Return To Eden

2 Emerafdisfp

3 Jewvte of Baby fort

A Forest at Wo/id's End

5 Fantasia Qwmond

6. The Hobbtt

J Lyceft 24 WlMingdon Park

Drive. Hampden Park. East.

bourne. E. Sussex BN22 OBS

tf you read the fetter stove, /
think you'ff trnd yo*/r ftrst client
Meanvvhik* get m tout ft wrrh me
and fet me know whttfr gmme
vm* want SM

Art Supremo Oh Frey has df awn
up the futl map of Zork f for your
delectation this issue, it shotjrd
relieve you of one complex 10b
at least That maze is h or run
do us without a map CV>
you need the artistic at
our man Frey to have your map
published though If you can
draw — great. But if not, as long
as the details am clearly imti our
wo can deal with the aesthetics
The sender of the most interes-
ting end useful hint, map or
tetter wiii w*n a cassette game of
that person's choice, Now
there's an incentive if you ner
needed one

Send your entries to

AMTIX ARCANA
PO BOX 10
LUDLOW
SHROPSHIRE
SYS 1DB

AMUX March 1986 67

►ADVENTUREi

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AMT1X March 1986 69

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H 1 1

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H • X^J

Your chance to fill that gap in your life

AMTIX' H THE mag*nn* for the discerning Armtrad owner,
combining the best in garner reviews and technical know how,
coping with adventures and strategy, your problems and Ours 1
j shouldn't miss out on this, but if you Haven't been able to
get hold of ear Iter issues of AMTIX ' we do nave lomi in stock
— and after all you wouldn't want any holes in your AMTIX 1
binder would you? So order now!

Ho 1 November T98S
Complete Guide to games I • Lightpena # Dun Oarach Map
Pyjamaramd Map # Everyone's a Welly Map • Lords of
Midnight Map • CP/M • Tape to Dish Utilities

No 2 December 1 986

• Complete Guide II • Fighting Fantasy m Alien 8 Map # Word
Processing with Tasman # FORTH on trie A mi trad

No 3 January 1386

• Gergovle Games Profile • Knight Lore Map • Public Domain
CP/M • Computer Art • Cirtension ROM* # RS232

No 4 February 1986

• Dynamite Den map • The world of Infocom adventures •
Amsoft visit • The first batch of results • Gremlin graphics, the
journey, the people and the story • Introduction to sedu-
catiorvar software • Preview ol the The Music Processor

BACK NUMBERS SPECIAL OFFER

Each back number of AMTIX' is
available at €1.00 each (plus 20p for
post and packing per item ordered},
But why not take advantage of our
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LJnif

ToUlE

L+tl$pttUlQtt«4it£*iK>l *tH****(jrt**M4 f

• Order three issues or
more at the same time
and get 40p off total!

SuhT«t»H

PW HBH (ZOp per tt*rn) I

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. m*t* thaquas/poeUri «n*f ri E« v *hi* ro
LTD H t iHNff to avoid wanting c«* Exyrnvnti Fbmm do rio4
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Each binder rakes fw* if AMTIX ' I

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AMTIX March 1986 71

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«Hi: ; itt <iW *'"" il>"'"

Jill- Jk^

. 1 F

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.:tilttltt1!: Kill,

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PLAY THE ACM REVENGE

[ * i ]i ■ ■ i ■ , r i
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******* ffH4t»*t*Hll

Trm

lansr .:

:Ii <34

SWEAT SHIRT.

****< ****

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i till'

He Mo compel iiiantstv The ap
prentice competitions minion
presents to you a compel it ion of
.of , , SWEET REVENGE

Yes, I am asking you. dear
readers, lo help poor Mtle me in
my hour of need The 25 best
suggestions will win an abso

shtrt Have you 'tad the review
of the futuristic arcade aoVen
tu*e elsewhere m the mag? II
not. why not 7

Anyway. I can hear you all
screaming "how can we enter?'
Whal must we do?, am* things

*•*!*>* you a StOry.

!. . " * . 1*11*1 This weekend it w*s decided

♦'I .: : ,.V. tothrowapiirtvtolicHiCHir Gary

. ,*, r -

■::::. ,!!!. iM * squatty little be*teft couldn't

; ; cater for a tea tor two the flat

;ijj; ' - * where I reside was elected to

P /J*j*j hoii* the function So. on a cotd

. I-J/r. Saturday evening people start

m /;"!"•■■'■ ed lo arrive, and the party

; |Ilfj*i - started swinging Everything

M!ii«»tiHMi^^ went fme and the guests tho-

j*y .* »•••«« -*j»Nt*i roughly enjoyed them^ves,

j • m ; including Newsfi eld's very own

***/;*; AbsnJ u te I y Anarchic raver ,

'» , V Jeremy Stiencer

the merry gathering began to I
return i

abodes Poor hit le me went logo ;

to bed as soon as the last strag- j

gter had left and found a j

Fridge n> my bed m Yes, Jeremy

tricks again, what a folly iap«r l

laughed even louder when I \

discovered thai my bedsheets t

were completely r toped to I]

shreds J!

What I want you to do is \ot £

flown on a piece of paper how \\

w\mmmxm

leel illustrations would help j
then draw away. I need detail I
and some really e e-e-vik sug- S

WA'-mtLl^ri \l

. , . * ^ » . •

•fifimmtrtt

Hill

i ■ *- »■ ■

1***4' M

wiM receive a sweatshirt and 1* ■"
the best one (or rwo r or thrr-ci ;

will tie played on our illustrious, ;' *
hut unthinking editor. •

Send thine entries to HAH 1 HE i
WHO LftUGHS LAST t

AMTIX, PO BOX 10 r LUDtOW, |(
SHROPSHIRE. SV8 1DB and
make sure they arrive before ;
70th March, there's good
ielknws-

OB Stt>IAN

■,•-•-•■

,| ,i t4l«|H

^ 9C

72 AMTIX March 1986

^r.^iuiiti

from Robin Candy

At M Suttort of Swansea kindly pointed out id m# tri*r# wit a slight
mistake in the Dun Osrach solution I printed ■ couple of month*
back The ? f * 25 should Actually read 34* * 5 So the code needed
lor th* doors fas 4543S424 Sorry about thai bu t 1 got il corvfu sad with
the Spectrum version

Th it month hei.nl been ebedona for software so there ere quite*
few fww games | would like tip* on particular y the excellent Ptng
Pong from Imagine, Sweevo's WorttffWhfftedtTom Gargoyle Games
end the Gyroscope loofcalfke, but * west improvement on the

original; Spmtfwf
One lest thing

from Qpctrk Dreamt {the Hod Cousans version}
before I start on the tips When you send in pokes

could you make sure they are alt your own work because nice Mr
flock man of that reputable rag Amsrrari User gets upset rf I print
pokes that appeared in their magazine first and I do hate getting
threats of broken kneecaps Make a Tips Editor's life easier — sand
in original pokes. Okay, enough of the moans and on to th*
informative bits

1 "

TIE M KUNG RJ

C1UB

Stand still and he will come

As p* omtsed last month hare

towards you. As soon as ha gats

are soma tips lot knagtn* r »

wrth in hitting range, ckjeoer

claseac Y*- Ar Kunq f u wtkicn 1

h*m wiih a couple of flying

am sura you wM agree prove

punches then switch to rising

Sieve Cross wall of Croydon lor

th*» info

It may tafc* soma practice to beat

BUCHU

th is lacfy Jump towards Fan and

Jump toward! him straight

do about 6 lunge punches and

awayanddoacoupttof long
punches followed by an anna
punch, Than finish Buchu off

thenrfosorne ankle punches to

finish her off

with a frying kick

SWORD

STAN

Jump towards him and do soma

Once again fcjmp towards your

flying kicks and than a cdupla Of

opponent bu t do a roundhouse

lunge punches

instead Follow this Quickly with

a couple of back lucks and r hen

finish her off with a few rising

TONRJN

kicta,

This opponent is vary difficult to

MUMOM

baat so nJenfrw of wMm^n^m |m
needed her* Stand st ill until ha

ThisWlowisabrtdifhcijhbut

gets wit hm range and then

still but elifcu Wit towards rwm

perform a comb* fi.itkki of lunge

and then jump up Perform a
couple a* flying lucks followed

punches, ankle punchas and
hying punchas.

by/up a Doupia of rising kicks, tf

this fails try funge punctHBs

BLUES

This is the Rung Fu master and.

PO^

as expected, he is the tough

Jump towards Pole and perform

cookie of the lot FoMowthe

about 5 lunge punches than

seme procedure as used on

switch to hiring punefva

Tonfunbutfestet' r

MARSPORT

After revealing how to complete
stage 1 of Marsport John
Mecann of Ltsbum in N Ireland
wrote in with the solution to
staoe 2 but youve got to waft
until nexl month for the final
part of the solution.

1) Go to the sanctum to get the
due Tm the sentry: 5 pair* for
entry; city through. 5 screens
each two

2) Get the Mars map and put it in
the key slot of the Bar (Marsbar.
see)

3 \ Get the tea from the Bar.

4| Go to sector d, level g. and get

the insect.

5| Get the syrincje from the

Chemist (open n with a parr of

boots) on sector e level d.

€| Get the point from the Oratory

sector i. level b

7] Combine the above four items

to make the antidote.

81 With the antidote go east from

sector e, level c, and enter the

danger room. Wail until the

countdown has finished end

then put the antidote in the

locker for future use.

9) Gel the clue from the vidtex

unit on sector h, level c, 'One

monkey says why the other two

■ mi.'I

10) Make another eyeshield and
et another pfirof ear muffs
1 J Combine the eat muffs and

the eyeshield to make the Y

token

12} Get the valiurn from the

chemist and oo north from

sector b, level b.

13) Enter the danger room and
wait until the nerve bomb has
gone off. Put Che valium in the
lOCker for future use

14) Get the topee from sector, f
level b

15) Gel the kettle from sector f,
level f.

161 Put the kettle in the key slot

of the boiler room on sector i,

level j

17) Get the helmet from the

boiler room.

1B| Combine the helmet and the

topee to make the power

booster

19) Combine the power booster
and your gun to make a
hypergun, you can now kill the
Sept Wark>rda

20) Gel the clue from the Vidle*
unit on sector f r level b. "One is
holy with skill after church'

2 1 \ Get the at rai ner from the bar
on sector c r level f.

22) Get the sunchart from the
map room

23) Combine the sunchart and
the strainer to make the T token
24i Go west from sector d, level
rand kill the Warlord

25) Now qo a n d get t he du e
from the Vidtex unit on sector I
level e. 'One says nothing, the
other says it all

26) Get the mute from the musk:
room.

27} Get the manifesto from the

oratory

28) Combine the mute and the

manifesto to make the E token.

2$) Go to sector i F level d and get

the clue from the Vidtex unit

'One draws near and throws

away'.

30) Get the charcoal from sector

3, level d.
1) Get the projector from the
oratory,

32) Combine the charcoal and
the projector to make the N
token.

33) Go west from sectors, level i
unit kill the Warlord

34) Get the due from the Vidtex
unit on sector d P level I 'One is
easy and *"" °* aplomb'

35) Make another cake and
another lead suit.

36) Combine the cake and the
lead suit to make the R token.

37) Combine the E r N, T. ft, Y
tokens to make the key.

38) Put the key in the key slot in
the sanctum sector e, level h.
33) Go west out of the sanctum.
Now it's up to you to escape
alive and with the plans

DRAGONTORC

Many Dregontorcers out there
seem to be getting contused
when they gel 'tunnel vision",
you can only see Ma roc and i bit
of what surrounds him, this is
NOT a bug If only happens
when either there is no fight in m
room (to remedy us* the Light
spell] or Ma roc has been bitten
by certain creatures {use heal
spell then move out of that
room or rust use the light spell)
If you are experiencing any
problems wrth the Dragon to re
tips then dop me a line and I will
see what I can do.

Now that you have destroyed
the first crown ol Dragontorc
proceed to Dreamdowns H the
dwarves are bothering you then
lead the eff into them and they
will be Ml led or attentat ivety
they can be destroyed using the
Mferrioi spell

Look for the squirrel Once
you have got him than use him
to search the leaves for you to
reveal a stone and a torch Now
light the torch on the camp fire
and take a bow to the eff The eff
in return gives you a nut tf you
give this to the Squirrel he will
crack it open and reveal the key
that is inside, take this. How
enter the ruins with the alt .

Intide the ruins open t h«
chest wrth the key and take the
snake symbol Use the snake
symbol to move the flagstone,
and then take the Demon spell
that lies underneath. Now go
out of the ruins and use the
snake symbol to move the
flagstone on the woods to
reveal an entrance Go down the
entrance wrth the snake symbol
and the lit torch

Go through the first door you
meet and turn off the snake
generator with the torch j place
the torch on the snake symbol
that is on the wall) Now kill any
snakes that are still about with
the snake symbol Open any
locked doors wrth the snake
symbol and kill any snakes wrth
the lit torch Open the locked
chest with the snake symbol
(leave the torch on the floor just
in case you gat attacked by
snakes Take the crown symbol
from the chest, rf there is no
crown but another snake
symbol then put the two snake
symbols together to maka a
crown symbol. Beware of the
axe and fireball room rtis
advised you use the Slow or
Unseen spells H necessary
Search the tomb with the crown
symbol to reveal a crown and a
message The message "When 4
are none smite anvil with stone"
means use the crystal of
tint (thought when four of the
crowns are destroyed Use the

AMT1X March 1986 73

:t:l:;:; | :"ih::d-

uuitMnm.illlllnilll.

i^ J

■ l»»*»»

| = E | E j E j | E f E [ 1 E j £

snake symbol on the other
make symbol to reveal the exit
Of use the Return spell Place the
crown on (he anvil to destroy rt
With two crowns destroyed you
should now t rive J to
Trolhtones 11 is best to use the
Warrior spell on The deadly
yellow imps to kill them before
trying to solve any of the
puziles It is also helpful to have
the lit torch and you must hive
the Demon spell

Search the leaves using; the
servant spell to get the Bane

Km. K you catch the bird thai
n around you will gel the
mtnigi Set a thief' Search
the stump for the coin and put it
in trie waf er Jump into i ha poo I
to go to Hells- mouth

Hellsmouth is inhabited by
bats that can be killed using the

Misstle spell and you can kill the
snakes using the torch. Find the
axe and use this to smash the
eggs (place the torch on the
floor to kill the snakes), now
take the chest key look for the
chest and open this with the key
to get the crown symbol Now
here comes a tricky bit — place
the crown symbol on Che cursed
key while avoiding the balls of
red fire. Either Unseen or Slow
can help here Now take the key
and use it to open the locked
door When the Demon appears
use the Demon spell to destroy
it — "Set a thief to catch p thief'
Take the crown Kill the eyes
with the bane end place the
crown symbol on the stone to
reveal the exit or use the return
spell Place the crown on the
anvil lo destroy it

RAID OVER MOSCOW

ZORRO

W youre stuck in US i

latest release then have a look

Chr istop her W* teon NUgfort, he
did send in the entire solution
but I ' ve spPt il into two part i
The second perl will appear
neat month Right „ on wftb the
tips...

1 Go up ihe vine on screen Vend
coiled the handkerchief that the
Senonlia drope

2 Now go to the top of the
scre en which contains Ihe Palm
tree and press the fire button
when you are positioned nam to
me boot

3 With that none go to the hotat
room end collect the gtaaa
bottle Then proceed to the
foom with the drunk in il Give
Hie bottle to h im and wan u ntif
he lies down You can now use
him as a trampoline I

4 Return ro me hotel room and
colled ihe branding iron with
the Z on it Then go i to the room
with the bull m it Tneei Ihe start
screen) Place the iron in the fire
and jump up end down on the

74 AMTIX March 1986

nearby set of bellows Collect
iron, Wh*ch should be red.
and prod Ihe bull with 11. You can
collect the object thai was next
to the bull

5 fletum to the hotel room,
again Collect the bell then go
one screen nght end place il on
the leh hand Sell holder, which
it at the top ol 1 he screen Go
beck end get the belJ again but

?pujo» it in Ihe tight
hand be)l holder A hole should
appear in the ground but don't
cfebdownityet
t Go to the start screen and
climb down the well. Co nght
and then down and colled the
plant. Go beck up end jump
across onto the nail and wail
When the platfi

onto it a no drop the plant, Wart
until your platform reaches the
bottom and then go back to the
room with the drunk Go to the
fop level of that screen and try
end force * guard to land on the
chandelier . forcing die bo* up
Go down thts hole end co
the chalice but you w> ! i just have
to wan until next month for the
frnai thrilling instalment of the
Zorro solution

Not the most exciting game this
but tf vou have bought rt these
ft fait! Andtew Wilson gf

In Ihe lirst
have to

where you
your ships out of
war, open die

■openi

doors to the hangar as late am
possible because when you do
open them your alt itude tends to
increase but do make sure when
you open the doom you are a
reason bo n ojisience nom mem
otherwise you com Id end up
crashing.

In the second Zaxxon Mte
screen there ire two good
met hods for scoring lots of
points but one is more risky then
the other

a ) This tt the more nsky of the
two methods!

practicing a lot you tend to get
killed off quite often. Go up um il
a missile appears then go ojurfe
low and wart tor the missile to
get ahead of you Now go bee*
up so you ere level with the
m tssi le and shoot it ' Just
conf inue with thts method until
you proceed on to the next

b I As soon as you ap pea r on
screen, fly low so as lo avoid the
oncoming mi si tie. No*. fu$X
Concentrate on how to destroy
the ground teroeti end
heMcopteri, but remember lo
stay low down . If you should see
a row of trees corning towards
you then Doe/t Panet Shoot at
the trees and rf your bullets go
straight through without Frilling
anything you are safe if you*
bu llets do hit a tree men just
move a little to the left or right
and Tire again to see if your
bullets still hit a tree Repeat this
procedure until the bullets dool
hit anything end you should get
through safely.

Irr ihe screen with the silos to
pet the one on the fa* right*
lower you r plane until It is
almost touching its shadow end
then fire at fhesHo and you
shou Id destroy It because you
are at the correct height . Now
destroy the other silos ™* except
the one in the middle. Once you
have done diet pet to the seme
height ae the s«lo *n the middsiL
Now shoot planes etc until there
is about 3 second* to go, men
ihoot the final i*lo

The next screen. Moscow, ha*
eight towers which are to be
destroyed AJI except two ot
them ere m line wrth Ihe
So get
I up with the
Land you should be able
f sax of the towers Once an
i h ey be e n shot you

When you appear on tht
reen you win nut me the i

I end the final conflict
i this
robot
s nght You should,
i couple of games be able
dtct the robot's

i so making me task
of deal roytng it a lot a

DYNAMITE DAN

For those of you who are having
problems with the Mirror soft *
Dyn^/rufe Dan, Tony O'Brien of
Merseyside has supplied some
useful tips.

When you have the 8 sticks of
the dynamite walk up to the
safe door and you will notice ft
starts to glow, now move bade
avoiding Or Blitzen before the
door explodes. To get the plan*
bounce on the trampoline and
iump on to the laser that is just
below them When the laser
shoots across, walk on on n
until you are just below the
plans end then jump up lo get
them

Now you have to get out of
the safe to do this walk to the far
end ol the trampoline and make
sure you have walked so far that
you are only balancing on the
trampoline by one foot After
the laser has shot bounce four
times, avoiding the girl and
towards the door You should
now be free to head back to your
airship and finish the game

NIGHTSHADE

Ultimate i latest has attracted
quite a lew tips from people but
I don't wish to ruin your
enpyment of the game so you
will have to wait another month
to hnd out which objects
destroy which nasties, While on
the subject of Ultimate watch
out lor GuaMpht I've seen H on
the dreaded Spectrum and it
looks like ■ game to watch out
for

It Is worth learning which
anliboffiss kill which nasties

antibody the crsatu re will ei
double itsetf or change into
something even worse 11 you
press 2 than your view will

rh.mqr rh»» t%

undocumented, but it does
work Throughout the mate
there ere four extra weapons
These are used to destroy the
four big nasties that are
pictured at the bottom ol the
s creen When you ere neer a
monster and you have the
weapon needed to kilt it then
that object wiH flash To destroy
the baddy |ust throw the object
At il If you misi don t worry
because the object will }ust Ity
past and you cart go and pick it

Thai seems to be It for this
month but just before I go I will
give you a taster of whs! is to
r in next month's column
L Yep nest month will *#«
some nifty routines lor such
games as h>'*jMstwth> from one
of Uddpn'i friends the only
oner In the meantime rf you
have discovered some mind
bf dwrngty brilliant tip for any
game then send it in at once to
ArvTTIPS. PO BOX 10. LUDLOW,
SHROPSHIRE SY8 1DB

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Please do NOT et*cIo*e this form/pjym a nt wtth juiy other correspondenc* to AMTIXI Magulrte editor! aI. as It will only delay

procnilno your order And mjiy rnuii In '

etailers don't always have ever ythl kj In stock

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AMTIX! Mail Order is backed by the resources of

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YOUR
TRAD!

ild be simpler — fill In the form tod a
I order whatever you like I

■y

4 j ?r We ddi

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--.**

THE SUPER SUBSCRIPTION SECTION
INVITES YOU TO JOIN THE . . .

. THE GREAT GARGOYLE

GAME GRAB

AMTiXI SUBSCRIPTION
OFFER

Yes, I warn to subscribe to
AMTIX 1 for one year (12
issues I and receive two free
games from the three listed I
endow a cheque/ post a I
order for £15 00 (UK only -
overseas customers see
below) made payable to
ISIewsfield Ltd',
(offer closes on March 30th
1986).

Pi a me -----^-. ■.■■■«. »».«..

Address

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Postcode

The free games I would like
to receive are:

Free game choice T is ......

Free game choice 2 is

overseas suescfuents tha *«*» d» ■

m data ii rjrtHfef lo readeri Iwrtng out |
*3t (h* U* or EutOO* W JOTh April 1W

tk* European tufc»tNpi#ofl- oH*r ftt* One*

fcuaiv* d4 ffw In* garnet *«d poll i i J £32 ■

0u1i*O* Europe, plllll rtf4l Ac OltAil* ■

I'm already a subscriber lo
AMTfX 1 and would like to
Choose my software at the
special price. I enclose a
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force, DO,

My subscriber code number
is . ■ . . -

Name

Address

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Game 1 is , .

Game 2 is ........

Mffni! SUBSCHIFTWII QfFf fi\ J
P0 Ml 11. ■

LUDU1W. SHROPSHIRE S?l 1DB ■

80 AMTIX March 1986

Of oourie you wouldn't be reeding thti if you weren't a
pretty wrfth *f tort of person — * neer Ammf at in IacI. Horn
thet you h*v» com* to eaped ao much ftom amfix 1 —
mvpirnth>n for Iff* etc — dcwi't you ininfc it would b* « good
id** tO awM muftcfftfl* Utlll *ggra*alK?m like youf locaJ
ntwuginti selting out? Subtcno* to AMTIX I end rren oniy
wiN you be cortiw ol Actuiily gtmng your Amu *f food on a
reouUjr besi* out. rl D*m*« pJayi har cards right you should
oat your AMTW even b*for* the mob* outside the p*p«r
shape nt*ft gttharing Whets mcrt r once you turn become
■ fully fledged Amitef you cen tea* edvantege of future
tuta KJipt um offers as wetf u being Able !o cfa*m discounts
on softwAr* purch*sed from Auntie Aggia of th* ma >i order

a4A40f

flfnd

Putting together (N* month » dial look a greet dut of
bluffing, arm rwiitina, and do w nri gh t threet*. but we
managed to convince ' The GARGOY1E g«ng to let u* offer
their three gtmn Ot court* it cam* a* i bit of t thock to
1 hem whan w* AsJced for th* bf And new S*»woi World, but
by now they must be getting used 10 our bar<rf*cad cheek ^
spiced with a wry l*rg* cMlop of charm W*U r they willed
Now you can lake advAntAg* of our effrontery And pkk up
two of t hmt three highly ecdeimed 1 m*i i o* abvol ui «J y i i*ch

— wh#n you tmkv out ■ subscript k>n wfth Oaowa ih* M#nAC«

— of couria Whshivir wAy you look At it you can t k>» —
nlther you Art getting two of the fineit gAmei Itm or you ■ r
getting twefv* toAuee ot AMTIX ' for nothing Don i heettetA
eny longer, fill out the form and become a compief* Amite*

ypu L

ejemi *

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DCtUp^d IT™ ^

fscsesss

ACTIVISION MOLE
REVEALS ALIEN TERROR

Our Spy at Aetiv rsion managed
to snap a picture or two of their
latest game . Rescue art
Ffwctafus Written by iucaf film
(of George Slar Wars" Lucas
famei, the Commodore version
was highly ecctaimpd antf it was
reckoned thai an Amstred
version could be better. As you
can see from the picture the

BUILD YOUR I

AMSTRAD AN ADD
ON

The solder sniffers am one you
might be interested in CfrUts
spring catalogue, It includes a
collection of add-ons for the
Amstrad computers, ROM
expansion cards at £15.95, a
parallel and Centronics port and
a dual channel serial card.
Building the boards yourself can
save you quite a bit of moneys so
its worth getting your hands
dirty

SUCCESSOR TO SOn AID

After the success of Soft Aid in

-g £360.000 for thi Band
Aid charity a new appeal wet
launched at the industry bash
(called the InOini held at
GfOSvenor House Hotel just
before Christmas The new
appeal is to raise money for the
Prince's Trust a charity set up to
helpthe vidims of drug abuse
Off The Hook will launch e series
of m u It i format compilation
titles, each having games
donated by the mayor soffwa re
houses, The fund got of to a
flying start the vero same
evening with f 1 6.500 pounds
being raised, tROOO of which
was raised by auctioning a
bottle of Champagne — it was a
pretty good bottle of
champagne

game puts you in Control of a
space craft jetting about en alien
surface Your las* is to rescue
the pilots of crashed aircraft, but
be cartful the aliens don 1 Uke
you and become increasingly
more cunning in their attempts
to get aboard your space craft
Be prepared for some pretty
Scafy moments on this mission.

A BETTER QUILL

Owners ul GMsoHs Qurtt and
flhist rater, the original
artveniunf creator s. will be
phM s*tfi to he ^r ttiel the
company *s tillering to upgrade
their versions ol Qvrtt to include
d screen splmer facility to give
those adventures some exits
/nuj tht! u i>t|r ode costs a mere

TRY A DIFFERENT
MISTRESS

If you have had enough of your
French Mtstress you could try
the German Msster or even the
Spanish Tur&r tiosmoss
Software hove launched two
more language tutorial packs for
the Amstrad TWell, what did you
eapect 1 1 The programs offer a
series of lessons, each one
dealing with a separate subject
area. The programs are
designed to cater for trie
beginner while at the same lime
providing valuable assistance to
the linguist, tf you are planning a
foreign holiday these packages
might help polrsh not only your
vocabulary, bui your spelling as
wall Each one costs ra.95 on
tape or n 2 95 on disk.

ill

THROWN OUT OF EUROPE

I suppose we had better break
the iTn harassing news before
some Other smart Alec journal
reveals ft AMTTX 1 writer, Gary
Liddon, wa$ invited by flobcom
manufacturers of Commodore
add-ons, to cover the launch of a
new Commodore product lor
sister magazine, ZZAPI 64
The launch was to take place in
Rotterdam, a foreign part for
most but definitely alien to
Liddon Liddon duty reports to
the airport only to be turned

away by the U K customs Why
wouldn't they let him out of the
country? His excuse was that he
didn't have a passport, or even a
driving licence He had never
possessed The former and had
left the latter in his Ludlow Hat,
WeM that's his story but shortly
alter he left Ludlow we
discovered a pair of Liddon's
trousers under a desk Would
you lei him travel to foreign
parts without his trousers/

AMSTER PRIZE

Ken from Lincoln and
Tim lumber from
FannycVin. a«* rt-m
nets uf thu Macrmllan
Wotfd Cup $occ*t
competition from a
couple ol rssuei ago
They had m np roaring
day out, including a
tout round ih* Totten
ham ground. the
changing rooms ind i
iounr through the ign-
nel To round it All off
Iftey watched the
mjich ham \flp wall
Our thanks lo Mac
nnlUirv tcur icxifcing
dtlsr Itiem

AMT1X March 1986 81

THE AMSTRAD SHOW

The Amtix team tramp their way down to
London to inspect the goings on at the
second Amstrad User Show — JEREMY
SPENCER reports

me as being a little silly to have a
game like Inis and yei noi
actually bather to show it off
properly Perhaps Act i vision
only leer at home in the large
and grand hails pf the PCW

show. Whatever the reason for
Iheir absence it must have
applied to a good many other
la rge software producers, the

rt only Wflfm five minutes since
the crush and scr amble of the
Last Amstrad show and. with a
third show promised in March,
Arnsters could be forgiven for
thinking Database might soon
start putting thorn on monthly.
But, despite the impending
frequency of these things, and
the dangers thai foreign travel
holds for the Ludlow crew- we
ventured down to London.
Bundles of Still warm AMTIX! in
our rucksacks . ready to set up
shop ort stand BS.

WHERE ARE Ail THE GAMES
PRODUCERS?

The second show was held in
the same hotel its the first but in
a much larger halt, the
Champagne Suile 1 1 never did
discover the reason for its name
but I can tell you that it has
nothing to do with tree bubbly
dripping down the waits — I
know. I tasted them}. It was heart
warming to see that not one of
the 98 stands were vacant, even
though there did seem to be a
shortage of games software
houses. Among those that did
turn up were Design Design with
their new compilation disk
Wofktng Backwards which
included that antique but
alluring game The H*fls of the
Thmgs, Simon, the market jng
manager, had spent most of the
day attracting the punters'
attention with a laser and
synthesiser. The hardware
looked very impressive but piles
of zapped Amsten* cluttered up
the front of their stand forcing
Simon to make his pretty
patterns on the distant ceiling
Design Design have come to
terms with their destiny and
have decided the Amstrad is the
machine to concentration
From now On they wi II i n it iate a! I
new games on the Amst rad and
then convert f hem for the
Spectrum.

A Sir Midta rigged
tot ip*c« flight on
th# S*-t»nU il*nd

The crowds had thronged to
the Martech stand in the hope of

Setting their hands on the new
■_t game — alas this was not
to be — the wretched creatures
have still to stir Just across the
isle from Martech were
Britannia Software who were
playing their cards right by not
promoting their new qui* game
with a scantily clad Bruce
Forsyth CDS, purveyors of ftne
computerised chess and
backgammon games, co-
habited a stand with the newly
formed Blue Ribbon software
house who ware displays rig their
new range of budget priced
games The only remarkable
mature was a little chap who
kept leaping out and grabbing
passing journalists, lite some
sort of vampire with a literary
taste In bet ? had only been .it
the show ten minutes when I
was accosted by the Blue
Ribbon public relations chap,
David Carlos one time editor of
Popular Computer Weekly "OW
turned PR tycoon.

As I made good my escape I
stumbled across what was to
prove to be the most exciting

GrsphnonCPrtA courts** of
DlfttaJ RMKhi M G#apfc

Kne at the Show. Spm Dr&y,
ng marketed by Act i vision/
Electric Dreams It was odd that
whi le the game was at the show ,
the producers were not. It struck

show was the exclusive domain
ot the small hardware/software
manufacturers.

HARDWARE BEYOND TOUR

With the games producers
staying away it wasn't
surprising the show seemed to
be dominated by the utilityand
hardware manufacturers, mere
was a multitude of bits and
pieces for slicking onto the hack
of an Amstrad. promising to turn
it into anything from a graphics
station to an IBM simulator

In one far flung corner rested
the Screens Stand. U nti I recent I y
few of us had heard of this
company but now that they have
linked up with the German
hardware developers Vortex.
they seem set to make quite a
noise, Screens seemed to be
selling large numbers of new
RAM ooards for the 464, the
largest version of which builds a
Straddles 464 up to a beefy
5 1 ?K Some of i he other Vorte*
products were available for
inspection and reduced a
number of Amaters to a state of
shock The expansion board for
the 6 1 28 offered a memory
expansion up to one mega-byte,
rwo RS232 ports (one of which is
able to transfer data to a like
board at speeds which must be
illegal), an analogue port as well
us an 8 bit Centronics port. They
also demonstrated the Vortex 20
megabyte hard disk which
should be on sale in a month or
so for about €600, As if that
Wfl&nt enough thov announced

a MSDOS board for the 6128
wh ich is designed to let the
humble (but much nicer} 6128
run IBM compatible software
Two other Screens goodies
tended to get lost amongst the
magnificence of JhedrspTay The
first one was a graphic
adventure game called 2an§&, I
had seen a demonstration of
before and I stilt found myself
wondering how they managed
to run a program while loading
data in from the disk — a task
supposedly beyond the
Amstrad Screens also
produced their new business
package ThePwrson^iAss^snt,
Of course Screens didn't have
the monopoly on hardware
DK Tronk* had the com piete set
of 6 12ft add-ons. the voice syn i h
RAM card etc Not ail o\
products were ready for sale but
nevertheless they made for an
impressive fine up with each of
the different modules dressed
up in very smart 6728 co-
ordinated boxes. Micropower
the company who made a name
for themselves with BBC chips,
and produce the neatest ROM
board for the 464, displayed the
prototype of t he 664/6 1 28
equivalent This new board may
not be Quite as handsome, fin as
much that it towers above the
compuief m order to
accomodate the ROMS, but it
prompts fo be tu*t as
and as I

convenient
its 464 relation

functional as
Meanwhile we

are stilt eagerly awaiting the
finished version of the
companies game. Or Who — it
seems to keep slipping back
through time.

Timaiic were the earliest to
provide hardware support for
the Amstrad and they are still
very much on the scene Their
latest product is a sideways
ROM card complete with mn
EPROM programmer, a device
which allows the user to stuff his
own programs mio a chtp and
then, for ever more enjoy the
benefits of ROM based software.
Timaiic might have been the
first with such a product but
close on their heels comes KDS

82 AMTIX March 1986

Electronics The proprietor of
this company, one Mr Seymore^
started selling an RS232
interface while the Amstrad was
still m its nappies, From th*re he
went on to produce an all
singing, all dancing modem —
the communicator 104 Now
KDS have brought out their own
EPRQM programmer as have a
new company called Setanta
Setanta have only been in
existence for two months but
they already have three utilities
reedy; Memory Boss. Sprffea
and roof Kit. i was attracted to
Their stand by an Am s trad thai
looked as if rt had been rigged
for space flight The 464 disk
drive was housed in a box that
was at least four times the size of
the drive and had more tights on
the front than a wallys Escort
1300 Stupidly I asked the
exhibitor if he was marketing
this design as a son of IBM look-
alike console, the sort of thing
geopie used to sell for
Speetrums to make them look
really beefy, ft turned out to be

the mans development kit
which housed a motherboard
which not onry boasted en
EPROM programmer but a very
powerful speech synthesiser as
well. After listening to his
Straddles c hunter away like an
electronic mother in lew I was
impressed Not only did the
software look very easy to use
but it took advantage of
interrupts which means that
Straddles can talk and perform
'u I tasks at the same time —
show me a mother- in -tew that
can do thai '

For those interested in
communication the show
provided a variety of delights,
The shock of the show was the
re-appearance of the Magic

Modem, This little gismo was
the talk of the town a couple of

Sears ago when it threatened to
low the roof off the then elite
commu n i catio ns cl u b. Two
years ago a modem with the
features thai the then called

Demon Mad&m promised
would have cost you mo re than
an Am st r ad, but (his machine
promised everything but eternal
life for Jess than f 100. The home
computer world held its breath
— and very nearly suffocated. At
the show this very late piece of
technology was being offered
for *ale at [39 95 and that
inriuded the kntarfeet ind
Honey so ft software. I look
forward to getting a closer look.

umsfSFORAMsmuis

Judging by the number of new
graphics products, using an
Amstrad for design and art must
be de-rigueur The AMX mouse
made its second appearance but
this time it was squeaking about
its posh new software which
allowed the use of colour as well
as adding a zoom facility, to gat
those pixels positioned just so.
AMX were demonstrating their
new A MX Utif tries, a package of
picture editing utilities for use
with the mouse It was amazing
the things one could do to
pictures, and anybodies'
pictures I might add. For
example one could reduce or
enlarge the whoEe screen, or just
a section of it; you could even
take pan of a design and 'spray'
it over the rest of the screen in
the same way as one can on the
Amiga. Scrolling any section in
any direction weschildspiay.

A new company called Woo W
Graphics demonstrated a
product called The Animator.
The package creates cartoons,
Qr animated pictures,, by filling
in the frames between two key
frames designed by the user.
The version at the show was far
from complete but some of the
effects that it managed to con jut
up were very impressive. With
any luck we should get our mrts
on a preview copy for next
month

Graf sales put their new

Praphics pad on public display,
or the last three months I have
been trying to get my hands on a
sample of this device so Franko
could put it through ils paces.
Just when I thought I had got the

?Mii

! lilii

ilLL

ItttHit:::::::::::::::::::::::::— ::::

Aunii* €*rol with two hangeri on
Sn» rafutad to glut ut th**r name*

manufacturers cornered at the
show they told me they had sold
their entire stock They did invite
me to assess the combination of
pad and software there but I
declined, explaining i he husiir
and bustle of a busy show was
not a useful environment to
judge such an intricate device,
so, while some of the
demonstrations looked inviiincj,
we reserve any judgement until
we actually get to play with one,

THE BIG WORLD OF BUSINESS

Business software was widely
available. Sage had their new
database on sale which boasted
a wide range of powerful
features not least being the
ability it gave the user to
interrogate the information files
in virtually plain English. They
also announced their rent a
Joyce scheme Business users
would be able to obtain a
complete 8256 system including
the Sage accounts software,
training and support for a
weekly payment or around £10.
The new EMP Persons*
Assistant being marketed by
Screens attracted a lot of
interest mostly because a
potential purchaser could lay his
hands on a com plate business
package F including a
word processor, database,,
ma 1 1 merge, banking and diary
programs for a mere £59-95 —
for me first hundred copies at
least — IN? rest would have to

Ky the full price of H49.95.
ith any luck both the Sage
database and the Persons f
Asststant will be reviewed next
issue along with the powerful
spreadsheet Cracker from
rwwstar Mint Office H was
launched by our hosts for the
weekend, Database Since the
original version made such an
impact on the home computer

market we shall have to And
room for that as well Corn in
Software released their new
Stmp/e Accounts package and
told me a little about a new
database they are working on \
know we are awash with
databases at the moment, but
their intention to create a free
Format system — which fraea
the user from boring constraints
like record lengths and f ■
Structures — promises 1o be a
revolutionary program, li could
prove invaluable tor the
disorganised none computer
buffs.

SOMETHING FOB EVEBTBODT

The diversity of products on
display mada foi i much mem
interesting show. Some of the
uses to which people were
putting Amstrads goes to show
what a flexible friend it <s. Apart
from the games, business and
utility software we were offered
music amplifiers with music
digitised on disk, a much widaf
range Of educational software
then we had only six months
ago end even packages covering
such diverse mlerests as
gardening: It's true, Phoenix
Publishing are about to release
Trie Planters Gwd* Pact which
includes a book and database on
cassette The user win be able to
tell the computer about We
garden and then settle down lo
sift through suggested designs
and appropriate plants.

All m all the show went very well
indeed. The attendances were
very respectable with the bulk of

Sople turning up on the
turday. end they all seemed to
be buying. The only problem
seemed to be with the catering
The organisers seemed to have
found a nove* way of controlling
the amount of alcohol
consumed by staffing the bars,
almost exclusively, with none
English speaking personnel.
Getting a drink was task for
either the expert linguist or for
the f r tend of one.

Those brave enough to stay at
the show to the bitter end could
enjoy the grand finale, That
began just after a lady
announced the organisers wet e
about to pull the plug on the
mains supply and that everyone
had but a few s&conds to vacaitt
Thetrolliesreallybe^antofly At
this time of the show getting out
of the bu tiding is not only a Tot
cheaper than getting in, but it's a
whole lot faster , as you gel
carried away on a tide of stalls,
stands, products and anxious
exhibitors — desperate to get
their cars out of hock before
anyone else. It never ceases to
amaze me how easily a
seemingly well organised Show
can mutate into a war zone,
before finally vanishing
altogether — in just a few
minutes. Never mind, the entire
act is due to be performed again
amidst the Northerners in
March.

AMTIX March 1986 83

■ ■ **1 ■*■§

* ***** t* *m ■ fc +*

sekei:::: ::::::::

Modem House have moved into
the Amstred communications
scene in a wry b*g way. They
aren'i launching one modem —
bul 1 hf ee The new range \ a
ceiled the Voyager range and
can be supplied for most m*cra
systems The Amsirad versions
include interlace and software
written bv David Husband*

Skywav* company. The
cheapest modem in the range is
the Voyage* 7 ai fl83.94. The
modem comes complele with
auto dial and aula answer and
supports 1 200/75. 75/1200, 300/
300 at full duple* and 1200/1200
at half duple* . The modem can
be upgraded to support V 22
protocols as well as auto- baud
rate scan, full buffering and
Hayes compatibility. The
Voyager 11 has ail of (he above
feaiurephj$ a few more, and I hat
costs f2Q6 94 The third mod^m
m the range is the Voyage* 4000
which costs f 918 85 bul has the
specification to match Modem

House have alio put together a
complete communications pack
lor I he 8256 called PCW Cotnms
(or £75. The software supports
modems such as the GEC
Datachat. Voyager 1 1 and Thorn
VXS40 and M3I[ boasis
viewdata, ANSI, VTS2. H**euine
and ADM/ ADOS emulation and
provides a screen text editor.
Telex formate*. 25K buffer and
easy file transfer with e**or
checking.

Just to make sure i hat people
take notice of this range. Modem
House are offering a free
Telecom Gold mailbox which
could prove to be a valuable flift

ELITE TAKE ON MORE ARCADE LICENCES

Following on from Elite's
series of licenced games, the
Midlands based company has
announced two more which
are destined for the Amstrad-
Ghost f rt GoMns is an arcade
adventure taken from a v^ty
popular arcade game by

84 AMTIX March 1986

Capcom. The player takes the
pan of some love torn dude in
shining armour who has his
loved one abducted. Rather
than take the philosophical
view he sets about rescuing
her, a perilous task to be sure.
The second game is taken

from an arcade game called
Bomb Jack This is a good old
fashioned arcade game where
brains won't make up for hand
and eye co-ordination. The
player must guide Jack
through a variety of screens
arid collect bombs while at the
$arne time ridding himself of
his foes.

| GRADED
SPIKES MAKES
FINER
PROGRAMS

If you live m an area with a poor
electricity supply (like Ludlow)
and find your Amstrad's data
comes out in spots as a result
you just might be interested in a
new product from the Welsh
company . Conblocfc Electrical
Ltd The if Smooth line
connect u it electricity

what the bowler hatted chaps do
for flour, it filters out all the nasty
Jumps— or spikes as the
technocrats wou W call them
The problems are often caused
by the switching of household
appliances, like electric
showers, which cause a
momentary surge in the mams
supply. If you happen to be
saving out your latest mega
game then you may never get it
bod

ASffi' B00Sr ™'

*™*i «r« juttly (Mom* Q ( th*

LETGENNY SET TO GRIPS
WITH YOUR FAMILY

Genny is a genealogical
database, specially designed
to help Those interested »n their
families' lineage, to compile
and assimilate the necessary
data. An electrons tool for
discovering your family tree
without falling out of your
own The program lets you
store such details as names,
sex, date and place of birth/
baptism and death/ burial
Other information would
include cause of death,
occupation (more than likelyL
and names of children etc. The
database will produce reports
which could reveal exciting
relations , like - Alan Sucjar
One unusual feature of this
database is its automatic
approval from the Data
Protection Registrar for use
without registration —
because, probably, most of the
!U_tbj*cts will be very dead H
you are interested get your f35

Bounds ready and contact
avid Computet Software.

BOO BOO TIME

Did you hear us announce last
issue thai Firebird had bought
Ultimate. Well you mis-heard
us What we meant you to hear
was that US Gold has taken over
Ultimate's marketing and sales
operation. Ultimate are
confident that the arrangement
Ail! allow them to put all of their
effort into what they do bfttt —
designing and writing games. It
was an easy mistake to make
and we forgive you, it just goes
to prove that you shouldn't
believe every rumour,.

ENGLISH CHIVALRY

ALAN GETS A RITA

Mm* Suaar has won the WTA

SvJSW double rfweK-d **»
OOttiRiTAsrtandsfor
Reooflfilron of Inlorrnauo"
TWhnAioav Achievement ana

of it* Wh«h Compear Show-
The panel of |udff« included Ion

KEdfifntoofflhtrftl-SiBig
Computer Society and one I Dt
dSSS* Eyaions They W>d thai

averyone' impraaeed th*m.

PROBABILITY
FUNCTIONS AND BETTER
TREES

Brian James (Computer
Software I sends us news of Ihe
Lsntfsc^pe utility which
compliments the original
L&ndscapG Creator: The first

Kogram to use probability
notions to simulate artistic
creativity, ' Sounds like
something out of H itch Hikers
There's more. This new utility
has dramatic foreground
topography, viaducts, better
trees and superior castles ,"
Apparently it's the mathematics
of the program that delivers the
punch Must get a look «t thia.

Due out at the end or this month
is another gamp from English
Software K motor Games t* a
Medieval challenge game which
me i ude* a variety of combat
'events': sword fighting, axe
fights, archery, quarter staff
bashing, crossbow shooting,
pikestaff contests arid 1 he
opportunity lo heal the Me qui of
your opponent with a hall and
chain Sounds I ike good clean
fun doesn't it 7 Wen, |udgrng by
the pictures il certainly look!
impressive and, apparently
sounds tremendous wi I h us
very own. specially composed
medieval music Sounds
wonderful but Where's EteAtra
Ghde chaps . . ?

HONEY SOFT NOT BUST

At The last Am si r ad show I
heard a rumour to ihe effect
that Honey Soft had gone out

and w** haven" i even managed
to get the interfaces off Them,
the ones thev offered as pure*
for the Chnitmas issue

After recovering from a bout
of panic I set about finding
Chris Honey, not a difficult
task, hs was at thenar trying to
explain to th® bartender that
he wanted a Bloody Mary — in
sign language* 'Is the rumour
true that Honey SoK have

ceased trading?" I asked > to
which the quick witted ifttip
chap replied. It's true thai
(here's # rumour ' (Here's a
man who walch-es too much
Yes Minister) ' . bul it isn't
true that we have gone out of
h^smess. far from it — life is
wonderful 1 "

It teems that when one of
Ihe Honey Soft members lefl
to work Tor Amor, a Honey Soft
arch competitor loo* this to

mean thai the business had
died, and rather than keep u to
hi mseif he wasted Little time in
telling anyone who was
interested; and many who
were not, that the company
had gone bus! for the
moment Honey Soft is locaied
in Devon, but is due to move
into some squeaky new offices
rn Brentwood In the meantime
if you need to get i n tou ch with
them you can on 0f72 §73440

AMTIX March 1986 85

::::i::::x::::t::::i:::::: :: :i: :: :e: :::{::::{: :::i: :::x::::x:^::f :^::p: :t; ::::■:::: ::-i.j<

::ti:r ■ :::::i::::t;:::I: :[:: ,mIITli

: ; " I : t : ■ !

RED HOT GAME FROM
ALUGATA

Alltgats are about to release
Meftdown. 'the first Mega
Game — well that's what they
call it As far as 61 28 owners
are concerned the label may
be justified since the game wi 1 1
not only utilise tine machines
entire memory capacity , but rt
will also need to call on a
further 1TOK of code from the
disk What an earth does the
61 28 do with all of this code?
Apparently it talks to you, all
the way through the game,
464/W4 owners wiH get the
same full colour 30 graphics

86 AMT1X March 1986

throughout the game's 192
rooms and 19 sub-games, but
they don't get thm mother in
law effect , The game's name is
derived from the rather
unpleasant situation it puts the
plav^r m— living on
moonbase with a nuclear
reactor about to blow 11 s cool
To prevent thrS China
syndrome you wi II be ta I led on
to show speed, strategy and
endurance. The game is sot for
release at the end of March
pneed £8.95 for the cassette
version and f 1 4 95 for the disk

WHICH COMPUTER,
AMSTRAD OF COURSE

Intent on playing lie business
role to the full Ametred took a
stand at this year's Which
Computer Show, held at The
NEC in Birmingham. Despite

runch of the Commodore
Amiga across the aisle, the
Amstrad 8356 attracted Che
most attention , pan jcu 1 i r I y
from the first time computer
users While the Amiga
showed off its enviable
graphics Ability . the attract *on
of The Amstrad lay With its
price And ever growing range
of software, something th*
Amiga lades. The Amstrad
61 28 was being exhibited both

AS A senous business tool and
As a games machine, which
may nave accounted for the
Queues of Accountant types
wailinu for A turn On the r*C*
if*cfc All of the other stands
were demonstrating business
equipment Your reporter
frequently had trouble trying
to differentiate between
various companies 1 telephone
numbers and the pf ice labels
One lamentable trend seemed
to be the increasing use of
Rash cars to attract potential
customers rather than scantily
clad female persons What'i
the world corn ing to >

GREMLIN DISCOVER UTILITIES

Gremlin Graphics, renowned for
their games software, have
formed a new label, Discovery,
for their new range of utility
software. The first product for
release will be Pyradev which,
we are assured, is easier to use
than it is to pronounce. Pyr&dev
1$ adisk-only system comprising
a full screen sou roe file editor, a
Z80 macro assembler, monitor/
disassembler, disk nurse and file
manager, The assembler cAn
ha nd to up 1 o 992 K of code fend ol
speed processing 40, 000 source
code characters a minute.
PpradrQYwiV sell for €29.95.
F u lure products will include a
word processor end e graphics

design system. Well bring you 1
review of Pyt&d&v m The next
next issue,

TOBftUK OR NOT TOBRUK

PSS have announced the next
fiilc m their Wargamers series
for the Amstrad, Tobru* The
w is written by lAn Bird and
1$ with the German attack on
I the North African pom in 1942
1 when the Allres faced Rommel
and his respected Africa Korps
The player wi II be able 1 o control
the tanks, artillery and infantry
in a si raiegtc sense as we 1 1 as m
arcade sequences.

A supreme test of logic and strategy

THINK features:-

! Instant replays Icon-driven menu
! Play the computer or a friend
Joystick or Keyboa rd control

miNH Variations-
it TUTORIAL THIHK!

i practice mode where the computer analyses and advises on

your moves

Nt SPEED HIMH!

each player has a limited time to make each move

• BUTZ THIHK!

each player has a limited time to complete all their moves

• PROBLEM THIHK!

the computer will set some fiendish problems for you to solve
or you can set up your own grids for the computer or a friend
to solve.

.It is a simply wonderfully addictive and

ingeniously designed game . , L

Popular Computing Weekly

from all good software rotation- if its not there, please order it - or in case of
tfty, send your crossed ctoequefPQ made out to Ariotasoft UK Ltd, , including your own
and address to Suite 105-106 Asphalte House, Palace Street, London SW1E5HS.

HINK! AfnStrad Cassette £8.95. Wonttnw** ^wmctearMP PDKt^hmSBdmfatMmn

What fs Think!

Essentially a board-game designed
specifcally for your computer, which,
like all the best board games, is EASY
TO LEARM but EXTREMELY DIFFICULT
TO MASTER.

Played on 6 x 6 grid, THIHK! will provide
hours of fun and frustration for all ages-

*Hi

HIGH f EHfOIIMMCi PROGRAMS

EH- aW rai

■

:/ •

aai

m' x

CO M BAT LYNX (Air to ground Sail la Simulation)

Spectrum 4 8fc faS*

Commocior«64 C6S&

Am*if*d464 61 2G C8»

BBC; Election 13 95

Xornbel Lynx 4 Coin Mmuiahoo and inooi^rrt up games n on* Th# 30
jtAact creeled bv uvnq corriour i*w ^raphes lendi io few ri • rnof*
tarJ *Mg* i fee*. » nx» |k* i iimutii too. but on the of rmr hrd there are
* of em and tntmy hattooctivn v rn m e vj atountf and ground knn
at you **>ch gyves flu game ita aieiant p ej »eto*<y anneal One*
gal the h*og of cop-fig m th everything .i s pc*s«^ to pt*y t oaro* o*
i afraiegy w+nch m^orves oof only arcade i*4K but fhoea of f orw a fd
■ Forpaopiawhoafir3Viirifagytypagafn« Comsat L^nji fh^M
hours oi fur. wMt tor Ihosa v*o prater tonwhing nitem and
choose atai ajvai 4 and n*ng onto your nan' GenataaV rh* grephc*
koat tfnpnnirv*, vrth a la* attnbui* p *pfai* mi *n*n objects ant
I to becorn* hfljrjeo. but Thaw are ftww* m wnel 4 othan*iia an
ang and cnaaangmg game *

mtmpai

TURBO ESPRIT (ID S+muiatJon Car Chase)

Spacliuoi4&k £i»

Ccvrvnodora 64 i fl %

AmiifAfj 464/61 28 fB95

Vow an- « spatial *p*m vquippftd #nh| loiu* Turbo Esprit An intern
ahoftai ring pi drug vnugglata mm about to rmia a hug* dupery oi
heroin. an4 muti to* Hopped «4 aU enaft Th* drugs art itorad a? a
number o< house* in Eh* City, end will be taken by cats Io an armoured
van vrtach vrtffl be cruising around the centra. A raid on the van before
CornplriiKMi of th* daJrvery would ttrava uvtw of the drugs in cire ulaticvi
Similarly t tatd on any of Ihe houses rtuuld alert Than* to your squad i
actrviiie^ Vgu mutl thetalofe try and pick off ftie car* on* by one
before they make th*ir <itt*o and then try id slop the van bate* fl
aacmat TrWdeitvaryMswi!* foe backed up by hit k arjiiafJa tt vtflfcn
out 1

(0«>e4op^^fihTht I \ur>*wfToftoiutC*tiLrdJ

■%fcu

IMS

CRITIC At MASS { Arcade)

Spectrum 48k £& «

Commodore 64 F8 9S

Amttrad4A4 612* f 3 3&

An Outlying *Y*tem Of the !"«"-■ Federation he* iel up en advanced
jnli matin cofnwtKKi plenl on # centrally positioned asteroid id
supply ihe local colomsli with energy A surprise attack by alien force*
tie* tuccesif ully owfcome f h* etf wgdi defence* and the alien* are
now thrudinnmy ro sell dasif uci the pdw«r plem unless the colonist*
oWer an unconditional furmidtr The seH- destruction proce** would
•If ec lively lur n Ihe power pianf into a massive Heck hole thai would
wipe oui roe entire planetery system along with a number of nearby
itn Unconditional surrandei oflets an equally horrific prospect Your
mission « 10 ifltritraie the enemy position and dttabto ibe ami matter
piant before the aliens achieve CRITICAL MASS

' This is the pi j l The graphic* and oJayabt U tv of thai pern* are superb
nuking it well worth ihe money "

fe>:

SABOTEUR (Martial Aft* Arcade Adventure)

Spectrum 48k f 6 9&

Amatrad 4*4 6120 £8 95
CommodOfeo4 C8 9»

Vou are e highly skilled mercenary trained m the ni*f i i«i am Y ou a* e
ajmpioyed to tnttiuere i central tecurflv building which rs disguised as a
warehouse You muu steal a d+sJfc ih*( comam* the names ol att ihe
fetes leader* before its information n sent io ihe ouiiymg security
stations You ate work mg agama) the clock , both m d,t*i i rng to Ihe duk .
and m making your mc*p* You must enter the buikting l#om the nee by
rubber dinghy and will then only be able lo leave by ihe helicopter on
ihe roof You will have lo find your way around the warehouse, making
use o4 the guards own weapon sufspihes in your sliuftgta through
overwhefcn* ng odd*

Saboteur * without a doubt one of the ben arcade peine* I've seen for
a long rune srtd a welcome depaiture bom the pJelhou of
licenced endorsed produc I thai the industry seems I o c unenrly Idvftui
Recommended

DURELL sales dept..

Castle Lodge Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4AB, England

Telephone (0823) 54489 & 54029

fij software getting harder . . .

nhahiUnlt of 7u«fotir built motive, i. umple*
np^hhng machine*, 2oldi which eMl
fujlh allowed them to defeat all their t-rte
mle*. in h.inkr When th*? potential tor rail
war wa* nvt-r Ihc* organM life fount Icmnd
uses for ihem in lhe arena and di^ Hipped
androink %o control lhe /oidv ind one-"
one battled vM-ri' ii tu^hr lor the efiteffam-
rnenr nl the population Suddenlv divisrer
struck the planel in ihe form ol ,l (real
mrlrttr storm and all Irving nnjpnium were
» * i v I ■ 1 1 leaving onh/ immemely pow
ling machines tone rolled by *ophi*h-
caied android* to inherit the plan

A tar -fly or standby /cud batik 1 fori r parrot

attempted to return (o /oiriMar alter hearing

a garMed SOS, bul then transport shrp

rra> rit'd on /nidsUr \ told Blue \iimfi c inly

the Zoids survived, jn OOI1 ili^tOW

ft . «d r h a r t he. I i em pe ra I u rw on I he mi *on mean! I ht*y 'd

have to redesign themselves . , , and lhy> the Red /*»

formed, gaining their colour from heat which they radioed

On the freeriOH planet ihr Red /ok)* teamed rW.-
operate as a u n if if *f lighting force and decided to return to
1W ~Zoid*tajr r«nlom?e i(, completely dettfOying the old

20IDS rs SM • long time in the future on a

planet called Zotdstar and follows the post

cataclysmic 6 vents which befell a highly

advanced and warlike race.

J 4V Jntf^n pwi ni

tbuhcurkmtj

lH Mt pHP f«i M

Tit m pa ** k-i

nir pfe* «Am p* ***** i* ^
r W l-fi. .fr ft ci»- *

iiainii

20H5S

LyVJklrV

1 JllifrtSlji Ri

•i

S3.

Li* .

i iMMM

] nnW

M irtr Zf*l

TH STATUS WSfUT
ntfrfc , TV ap i *i iii i *

&r;rs

90 AMT1X March 1986

breed of Blue Zoids. Red Zoid battle squadrons were made
readv and the Attack followed,

the few Blue Zoids that survived Ihe initial onslaught
rwimiped and sei a\m nit building a new Blue Zoid 1 hey called
ZMdtllU the ultimate fighting machine, capable ol <hall-
enging the michf ol !he leader or ihe Rr-ri /mrj% Rcdhofn
CH# TeiiMiK The Zo id war had begun.

It was then thai a sm.il! and insignifk am *nace t mii
crash landed on the planet. A Blue ZnktjMUot reached rt iirsi
and discovered a humanoid survivor, who became known jh.
Tht f m r t h m m it. Be scon learned the- » as s i »r /nM
thought the means bv which a pilot communicatee with the
/t iid which carries him, and proved himseli to be a fearless
and t tinning Kh i^ary.

The Earthrnan drew up a plan which, ii mju evstur, would
win rht- war Tor the Blue Zoids He volunteered lo menec-
mind*, with the mighty /oidjilla and be transported lo Ine
"mi idle ol ihe Red 7n«d ■ iplex and strike a fatal b(ow

n which the enemv would never recover.

The plan went ahead but dtatstiei IfriM k ax the BlfcM
Zoid spacecraft containing Earrhman and /oid/illa desc
ended, a missile si ruck vtng the ■ rati ,md Zoidsilla

wis scam- red over ihe landscape, The Red Zoid* soon
recovert-d the ">t\ pieces of 7oin>Hla &nd buried them deep
undef six different city domes, With the Eanhman presumed

dead and with the loss of iheir mightiest lighting machine, the
Blue Zoids se e med doomed

Alt was not lost, however, the Red Zokls (ailed to spot a
small Spidermid sc uifJing awav from the wreckage - ie
contained Ihe r.iMhman Vmi,

The game commences: you are in thai Spidenrokf* mind
merged wish the mac nine's ions* lousness and in i ontrol ol
Us turn tions (annotated on the main picture). Determined to
destroy (he Red Zoids you decide to collect ihe *)* piecr
Zoidzilfa, a hurcyEean lask fterv hme a segment of the
mrghty machine is recovered your And ts upgraded to j more
pmertul, stronger machine until finally, with air si* pieces
collected you become the awesome ZotdziNa. Ji is then thai
yoci can seek badle with Redhom ihe Terrible without tear ol
beme deslruyed.

when merged wilh a Zoid louftt are used lo control tt r
When one is sefei led a series ol windows pop qui onto
main display jlk*vvng vim To access various movement und
defente sv ^irmvDoni forget, the And isn'i |ust j hindering
machine and does have a mind ot it* own and occasional J \
disobeys orders when it thinks you've made a wrong move,

Sine e completing the game is a monumental task it can he
saved, although only if the /i«d ihinks u's tn a saff shujtm

• -.Mi add be in your shops soon at U.95

Jullin Rlgmll

-uf iMl Mf mm* rv mi I* „ mu^

ST AW \

Sri.Lt ,fl>-^ r J»« h W
jjpjjprf M Mf 5T4TI S

Jlin ■ < Ar Mi-wv am-
■in A fc JT> PfrfwCm

M^ «% *m cb fw W

* l*» Hpi -* l-P * #

fnwt v ^U to pwr

•— «4cliJ 4 win

f*v«pi lA i imi uW J ifH i

c«1 iv bjw «i frf Apr 4 1

W%m * rm* * mi i d

ppUiifr^hi

Mf Jp M | jhff wiii TV

tW top TV p^k bStOo

ml f4mk ft

AMTIX March 1986 91

rrr.

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* + ■ + 1* + ■■ +4 + + *■+■!-+-+ 1 +# f

■ ■ r ■ J r , - . I r - ■

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Link

— - -- * i «#* *f *+• ** * ■ ■ ■ -

■ f I tT ftWI Itltl II +!■+**'

'**• »<*■»** rm-wm-t »■>«■■ ■■

gani — r—

-f— -f---- -f

AT THE DROP
OF AN ARROW

i kki kverwitM, |VK»

nrtfir iif lir khrisM\ rtvd fntrtadftt

In Uu* £nol Fl™ ityfc. Rota* life* Hood n«* C*ikI> ! t*ko on the ft-nti? nrwre j* * n™

Most people are familiar with the Legend of
ROBIN HOOD, the brave peasant who robbed
the rich to feed the poor. Recently the legend

has been portrayed on TV as well as in en
adventure game by Adventure International

Now ODIN have brought the legend to the
Amstrad in the form of an arcade game.

here came inio the Sheriff of Noll-
ingham s possession J ilhntr W WW
winch meani nothing in the Nonv
the Saxons, however, held it to be a
sacred symbol of freedom. Wishing in
ensnare the young Robin , who was
t M'jting hjvcw lor the Normans by
doing a spot of robbing her* And
[here, rh*' Sher iff offered the silver
•now a* ^ pri^e in an archery conti

2lHe aware that Robin would not be
U? lo refute !he challenge, ihe
wicked Sheriff deployed his legion* of
killer knighls in the forest a round I he
i. ,i-.ik\ with orders to slav Robin or*

You play I he pari of Robin and
mu^l get him to in* 1 c (imperil ion in
one piece. Bui dorti despau — yout
quest if not totally hopeless. To start with , you are aimed h
a trusty fudge I rule (or doing a bil oi Norman bashing, hoi it

dead loss in an archery compel n ion? fortunately, Wittt-
wheie m the wood is a whi old Em (o( I Md of the Rings
I iime i who has in his keeping a nice points sword, a bow and
three arrows BUT vou must pay him three bags of gokJ
h iipm,

F mant e i i>m« (n the form of a far Bishop whose pOCMti
are overflowing with gold, although betore you can gel Ml
money you must overcome his contingem of < rossbew
wielding knights. No pasy task, but being ihe mighty Robin of
rhe Wood it shouldn't prove

Also lurking in the gre.il Wood ■* an old M*S Hermit
complete with life- restoring elours. |usl walk up to him il
you're injured, gad ^hcujtd he be in a good mood h<- etas you
an eifra Me, As well as rhe hermit f he n- art- a ft i w witches who
can be a help or a hindraoce depending on how many flossed
you carry (they use flowers lor ihvlt mortal matures ||
ralty the more you have to offer, the tn-rirr

So there you have tfl the dri.nK Nirw drool over ihe
pictures, Rnbin of rhe Wfrvj should be hitting the shops soon
and it wilt set vou back 19.95* From -a hat we've seen or the
game w lar we think il will be worth It.

Robin Candy

92 AMTIX March 1986

>PREMIEWdP

1_U

MAPPING THE OUTER
REACHES OF SPACE

Thrcnjmttmbui UUrbVflVim IP mulm^ — nuk* rt

N I I

rORUDRD

COWflSS

GOfcORlNDl
OOCKEO

TARGEtYlNG 1

TRACKING

PILO

IHR i * MIS i At»1 e FLP i 9

DRAIN

-n LAUNCHED

tt LAUNCHED

-UNCHED

•••JNCHED

tl LRUNCMEO

Butldmes are

* A futuristic trouble*rM»4er r you find
yourself about id race* vuur greatest
challenge y*i« The humjo c crionie* on
the third planet nl the Tut CM
vytiem havr been annihilated by the
planet* robot defence system (which
is tola My out of control!. A Cai-t
< rubfcf floating silently in orbit
around the ptanei. send* your heavily
armed one-man craft down fct Ihe
BVffac* i jfTiputers on board your
tnvfl craft can oefail I he a* cess«bil«h i il
mi h city and ihe strength ut n
ienoei The- information you haw put*
your situation into perspective — the
chances of success are rVol Good

After landing, your ship on leave

the docking chamber and you begin

rn explore th« devdtliled world

tntart but all that movra is potentials

deaclK Defence ships are inlent on dt rtwyir M anythmo Thar
threatens (heir lifefeu en rfieix sand you ctmtitule that ihrrai

There's one chance. All the power for the defence
intent! comes *rom (be planet's central reactor. Shut tHjf
ckrwn and I he world will be safe There's a problem here Ttm
COOl>"ji rtnis vou need to damp the fusion teat in r have (n
removed and broken into piecev They nerd to be located,
rebuilt and then placed in the reactor That would be a
riiihc uli enough job wtjhoul the droidv

Taking a deep breath, you prve your ship some height and
pull back on the throttle. C ruising towards the limnv o4 the
nearest dftf. you tan see stark silhouettes ot distant and
foreign architecture caused by the kyw position of the sun in
the sty When night fall*, you'll have to switch lo inlra red hul
fht- ihrrfnal imaging equipment t rear.es a blur un anything
mo vi'ii; at speeds Your aim has to be good. You've got Hares
bul ihey have to last — there won't he enough tor r -
encounter

The game employs hi-res shaded graphics a multr-
purpose dispLu x reen (which can even be used for making
notesi and enough v|eal|h and strategy elements to keep jhe
most demanding oi gamers interfiled. Disk versions will
have somelhtng called a Tlmm Vault i which sounds
resting hut I don't know what it does j and a library to giw
plavc' dit»s to useful information Wt i fa$t paced Sf
graphs adventure on ihe vame scale a* Oft* - only i he
graphics leave the trading game standing. It/* heading (or the
Armtrad . . t

Sean Mittfrien

CRL'ft latest game features fait moving 3D

graphics in a shoot am up with strategical
overtones

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PLEASE ENTER CODE. * .

AMT1X March 1986 93

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ATEGY

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A SPACE TO
UNWIND

ontrasf is orrn of the most interesting things
Contrast is often equated with incongruity,
Thereby forming the basis for humour The
converse can apply and result in stunning
tragedy Contra it adds variety to make life
interesting but also destroys the consistency by
which we order our values. It is with certain
trepidation therefore, that I reveal that this
months column is rife with contrast.

Believe me, this » not what ) would have
hoped but due to the nature of the products
reviewed, there is o book review by Michael
JampeL a football strategy game and a science fiction trading game
— what could contrast mote? To help you cope with the situation, I
can only suggest you take each item as a totality in rfs own right and
deal with the concept of editorial continuity in the best way you can
tf in doubt consume a disproportionately large Amount of alcohol
through ■ straw — I understand there are several voluntary
organisations to help you rehabilitate afterwards

A Kernatrvel y r th is m a y be the moment you ha v e been we i 1 1 ng for
A mutt i -coloured mosaic of Muppetese may just be the cure for
stagnant synapse stifled by the hitherto scarcity of simulation
games for me Amstrad Could this be the beginning of the end

MACROCOSMICA

AmsofL £8.95, cass,
£14,95, disk, joystick arid/
or keys
Author: David Reading

A real time space adventure set
in the 30th cen tury — the t rad ing
boom if at its pflak and the
potential to make (or lose) mill-
ions of credits has never been
greater 1 Not only can individual
traders make their fortune but
governments too have recog-
nised the potential for the fast
buck /credit (delete where apiic-
abte) and reap the profits from
landing taxes, import duties.
repair centres and refuelling
points Of course there are al-
ways those entrepreneurs of the
space lanes, the pirates, who
know perhaps better than most
where the real fortunes are to be
made According to the inlay, at
least the rebels are more civil
Make of that what you will-
So the stage is sat for this
tonaue-rwistingly titled future
trading game. Packaging is
standard for the Artisoft Gold
range which means the Cftt-
sette/diak is boxed simply and
accompanied by a simple ms
Traction booklet. One of the first
pieces of information Qvy&n to
you by the booklet indicates the
scale of the urn vers* At the start
of each game - a randomly gene-
rated 3D universe is created
consisting of 1012 planets 60

CRRCO HOLD
30 space

CRRCO HflSS

O wegatn

Ca
Bk

^ frn

space stations, 62 black holes
and IB galaxy hyper a ales Each
of the planets is named and
assigned one of a possible 3840
codes to indicate its trading
characteristics, The universe is
then subdivided into ten known
galaxies ian eleventh is created

but kept hidden from the player)
and these are connected via the
hyperpates Each galaxy is div-
ided into ten sectors of sixty
cells making a total playing area
of 8600 cells. Each cell contains a
planet, space station, another
phenomenon or merely empty
Space The temptation to quote
the Hitch Hikers Guide to the
Galaxy is almost unbearable

A prayer can view data on a
limited number of the cells,
depending on the level of play.
At any one time, the short range
scanner can display nine cells of
three sectors simultaneously:
the one currently occupied and
the two adjacent sectors Infor
mstiOn gained on worlds within
this area varies from game to

game. Planets' codes determine
the ava* l ability of various kinds
of goods (poten tie) cargo), inter
galactic hyperdrrves, repair end
maintenance facilities, ship up
grade centres and even casinos..
Cong range scanning repeals the
uvhole of the sector currently
occupied as a 12x5 cell grid

The flight deck screen dis-
plays all the information neces-
sary during space flight, in elud-
ing dangers such as oncoming
meteor showers and low energy
levels If pirates are encounter
ed P they can be fought using
keyboard or joystick control via
a small view screen on the flight
deck display Other important
matters can be deal! with from
the flight deck including equip-

DEST IMRT' H
psaezzst

TYPE

CflLRXV: 1
SECTOR: 2

3837
JAYS
CONE

rs:

AMTIX March 1986 95

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ping the ship, refuelling whilst
plane I side and carrying out
repairs.

Anybody familiat with Elite
will be wary of customs officials
who will not lake kindly to find-
ing your hold slashed with
narcotics and the lite- Once they
have been dealt with, you cjn
get on with the trading however
Sometimes re bets willcom* and
offer twice whet you would
expect for certain items but it's
advisable to be wary when such
offers occur. They are not al-
ways genuine. The similarities
between this game and £ ffte are
fairly Obvious but m MacfOCQ-
smtCA the emphasis is definitely
on the strategy as opposed to
the joystick One area where this
is revealed is the innovative
banking system which allows
the use of credit if an account is
set up and well maintained It
also negates the problem of
having to pay pirates protection
money (which is an unreliable
way or dealing with the problem
anyway).

There is also a Tele* which

96 AMT1X March! 986

offers the player the chance to
obtain the whereabouts of the
mysterious Mr Hoo. I never
caught up with this gentleman
and cannot therefore comment
much on why he has been inc-
luded in the game Other inter-
esting and potentially profitable
items of news may be obtained
from the Telex however, and it is
to a player's detriment if he fails
to take advantage of this fact.

The game plays well in every
respect and generates terrific
atmosphere as more explora-
tions are carried out. it's really
for those who want io go where
no man has gone before but
without the necessity io take a
joystick along I will play this one
again in future

Presentation 60%
Graphics 68%

Complexity 50%
Authenticity 78%
Instability 88%
Overall 86%

Viper Software* £695

cass

Author: Adam Whit lock

Leprechauns aren't very good at
football they keep on getting
trodden on. So, to avoid injury.
Seen Masterson has handed the
latest soccer strategy game over
to Julian R tan all, Amtiv's resi-
dent foot half hooligan,

8*g League Soccer puts you m a
managerial role and attempts to
Simulate the trials and tribula-
tions of taking your team from
the obscurity of the fourth
sion to the giddy heights of the
first division,

When you start the game you
are asked to input your name
and choose the level of play
from the five provided (from
amateur upwards f Once you've
typed in your your name and
selected the level of play
time to pick your tearrr There are
SB teams from the four divisions
included in the program, but if
your fave team doesn't appear
then you can just change any old
team s name to your own [Law
pool were transformed td the
ntghly talented and successful
£utfA?w t&tft&rgtcs}. When the
teem has been settled you can
choose the colour of their shirts
and the simulation begins.

When the season commences
a aeries of options are presen-
ted. These appear in between
every match and allow you to
gloat or cringe at your league
position, managerial rating, get
ready to play a match, enter the
Transfer market or save Out the
game for reloading at a later
Ban

When you Stan a new game
it's advisable to have a quick
glance at the transfer market to
see the strengths and weak
nessss of your team. Naturally,
the weak players should be
extrapolated and sold off el
though not a! once otherwise
youlT end up with a small,
undermanned, overworked
squad (like us at Newsfieid). You
ateo have the option to buy in
new players, but only when your
club has earned enough money,
to stop you completely reshuff-
ling the team there is a Li mil to
the amount of transactions
which can take place in between
each match — in this case only
four, A nice feature about thhs
game is the feet the names of the
players are drawn randomly
from a large pool of real foot
bailers — the two tudiow Lerh
argues strikers were the amsztng
peer {and I'm not talking Sam-
antha Fox) Mark Hughes and Ian
Rusht

When you're happy with the
team you Can play a game. Press
the 'play next match' key and
you'll be shown the details of
i your fixture and the defensive,
midfield and attacking strengths

and abilities, of your opponent
Once you've absorbed that
information you can then pfo-
gress to the next screen and pick
your team The team is shown
on the right hand side of The
screen and the team sheet on
the left

Each player is shown com*
ptate with information about hii
strength, skill, energy (or
stamina) and the position he
plays. Whal you have to do is try
to assemble the best combma
tion of players and produce the
strongest team. This isn't a\
ways easy since there are other
factors which can interfere with
players like injury and
suspension.

Getting the team together
doec takes a fair bn 04 planning
and it's advisable lo play the
members of the team in their
proper positions, otherwise the
overall strength and abilities of
your team will become weaken-
ed. Once you think you've sel-
ected the best team the ratings
of the players am analysed by
the computer and processed to
give the overall ratings of the
defence, midfield and attack as
well as overall strengths You
can now return io the initial
screen where you can compare
your team's strengths with your
opponent's, If you think there
could be a few changes made
then you can return to the
former screen and resales the
team.

Once you" re satisfied the team
fielded is the strongest possible
the match can commence The
screen changes to a fixture list
snowing the matches between
the other Teams of your current
division Pressing a key starts
the animated 'match high kg his
function where you nave to
pwaai ii out and watch yom
team playing rhe match.

Here the screen shows a 30
panoramic view of one half of
the field {depending on which
team >s attacking) complete with
two attackers and three defend-
ers who run and boot the ball
around. Its rather like watching
a miniature Match of the Day,
only it's more involved since if s
your very own team playing.
The highlights don't last very
long and show only the goals
and near misses (which cause
many e groan when they hap-
pen} Once each half has been
shown the whistle is blown and
the result, complete with attend-
ance, income [receipts and sun-
dries), expenditure (wages and
sundries), the profit lor loss)
made and the team's bank
balance are shown.

You can then have a look at
the other results of the day and
how they've affected the league
table and your position in it
Throughout the season prob-
lems constantly rear their ugly
head, like a player's stamina
rating dropping sharply if they

r/i ^definitive football strategy game

1 1 BIG
LEAGL
SOCCE

CREATING POLITICAL AND

by Mike Rose, £7 95,
Interface Books

As Mifce Rose imphes in I he
introduction, programming is all
about defining one's needs,
then breaking that definition
down into parts, subdividing
each of those parts into tasks
and finally applying those tasks
to whichever language is being
used, This book attempts to turn
the program into flowcharts and
then >nto BASIC and offers help
at all stages In general it
succeeds.

Oespite its title, this book
covers economic and diplomatic
games as well as military and
political simulations Mid
immediately sets about dealing
with the similarities and differ
ence& between these four areas
o( decision making. The various
chapters lead from "The Model'
through Game Plans' and
Opponents' to Translating the

:i!!iiiiijftiSIf»i-Ii»iiii"^"«i

mm iiiAj

Flowchart' via sections on Input/
Output and finally De bugging
{only 25 pages but useful to all
proprammErsl-

The second half of the book's
175 pages is taken up with ten
program listings which demon-
st rate the lessons of the prev-
ious chapters. These games are
between 250 and 600 lines long
(with SO tines averaging about
IK of BASIC! and cover the per*
iods from the Vikings to a
hypothetical Galactic Empire.
Throughout the book, the em-
phasis is on structure and this is
Shown in elf the example pro
grams which begin with about
ten lines of the form:

10 GOSUB 1000 REM setup

20 GOSUB 2000: REM first stage

Each chunk is independent of
the others, leading to easy de-
bugging and also to the use of

play every game- There are also
injuries, suspensions and fin-
ancial matters to worry about
too — real uloer -generating
stuff?

The game continues in this
fashion until all 42 matches have
been played ami the season
draws to a dose. If, when this
happens, you're in the top three
promotion is given and you
move up to the next division (if
you're in the bottom three,
Chough, it's relegation lime
matey I- You're also given a fin-
ancial bonus (depending on
how well you did).

Your team is then reassessed
by the computer and changes
are made to their ratings, skill
factors etc for the new season. If
you're promoted then the value
of the players rs also increased
allowing you to complete bigger
financial transactions

Just like real life, there is also a
risk you might get sacked —
mismanage Die accounts or get
relegated and your job is put
firmly on the line . . .

This is a great little game
which bears a remarfcabte re-
semblance to football Manager t
the game which appeared on
just about every computer in
existence I including the trusty
and cmsty ZX8H There are
some faults in the program
which have been overlooked,
like the fact that you can field a
suspended or iniured player,
and also ou est la FA, Milk end
European Cups? The program

identical sections in each game
— such as a key pressing rou-
tine, which pauses the game
while instructions are read and
decisions made. This is an m
1 reduction to the idea of libraries
Of previously written routines

being used to nve work One
gripe is the author's suggestion
thai single letters be used for
variables leg F for fuel), t would
strongly disagree, as meaning-
fui variable names are much
belter for de-bugging especially
in long programs.

The programs are written in a
Universal BASIC and are not
machine specific. There is a nice
touch in that vocabulary difficul-
ties are dispelled by a short table
of keywords and what the au-
thor means by them. For exam
pie. REPEAT UNTIL GETS
is translated as "Wait until a key
is pressed/ This is useful and
although it would have been
better to have a table of key
words far each of the BASlCs
mentioned, the mam thing to
remember is that on the Arns-
tracl should be written

WHILE INKEYS J "-WEND

The programs in the book
could be typed in by a complete
novice but to gain the most from
thpm, a small amount of know-
ledge is useful. Anyone who is
worried about not being up to
the necessary standard should
consider this problem: Given

also plays very slowly and takes
ages to print out things like the
league table* and the other
league results It would have
been nice, too, if the "match
highlights' were an optional
feature — many " s the ti me when
I wished the result could have
been printed straight up onto
the screen Si ill, perhaps I'm
being impatient, after all this is
supposed to be a simulation,
and a part of being a manager
involves sifting on the bench
bitmg your nails

Big League Soccer is excell-
ently presented with heaps of
lists, facts and figures available
at the press of a key, The gra-
phics on the 30 highlights are
rather primitive and flic kef a lot,
but the overall effect given is
pretty good With the save game
facility it means the game can be
played infinitely* season after
season allowing you to slowly
build your team up to become
I the best in Britain, and once that
happens you can up the diffi
cufty level and struggle again. If
you re at all motivated by soccer
then go out and buy This
brilliant game, you wont be

disappointed-
Presentation 83%
Graphics 47%
Complexity 79%
Authenticity 91%
instability 96%
Overall 84%

i two arrays A44.4I and 8(4.41
compare the respective ele-
ments of each array and if, for
that element A is greater than B,
print A — else print B

This is the hardest problem
likely to face anyone inten
to write programs on the lanes
suggested by this book, al
though greater sophistication
may lead to a more complex
game In fact, this is one of the
Book's limitations, the games
produced will never be up to
commercial Standards in terms
of speed and complexity, al-
though they will provide a useful
introduction to strategy gaming

Because of the universal na-
ture of the BASIC used, very little
m the way of graphics Is pro
vtded and there are no details on
sound whatsoever However , at
those are strategy games and
not "zap the aliens' programs, I
don't consider this to be a ser-
ious omission. One complaint rs
perhaps better aimed ai the
publisher rather than the author
£7:96 rs really too much tor a
paperback booh 175 pages long,
even though this appears to be
the going rate for this kind of
literature. Nevertheless. this
booh is definitely worth loohing
at even bearing the high price in
mind — especially is it seems to
be the only one of its kind
available.

Michael Jempei

AMT1X March 1986 97

So, here I am again, ih« poor
Comps Mini on p staving over a
hot Amstrad typing in all the
lucky winners, Of course f don't
begrudge the odd reader
winning a prize Of two — Ww
only fair— but I am beginning to
get just a weeny bit jealous. I
mean take Wayne Monaghan
and Nick Robinson Those two
lucky guys get to win a modern
and radio controlled truck —
what do I gel? — the Eeft overs
from Garry Liddon's lunch —
rich pickings for many a mortal
you might think — they would
be except that it was his lunch
from two weeks ego which he
had lost on his desk. Oh f never
mind theirs no point in
wmgemg — no one takes a blind
hrt of nonce I suppose ril just
have to grit my leeth and
congratulate the winners —
Aurghi

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
COMP

Wei! for all of you who entered
the PSS Comp way back in issue
2 here are the three that
managed to secure the giant
Airfix model each — hope
you ve got a pilot's licence.

fWMifin &t.nltL#*r, Urtttiifl. H*#f*ft
•NftiumV KT3SDO Jonathan
SirttO" SurrvY

The next ten each win a smaller
kit — so youil still ne*d a licence
but your dog fights are apt to be
a little more cramped.

Andt** Bumdg* St Thomii, Ejurlar.
JtfMi Cofenan. H#ll##rtofi Rtorw«^. N
Flt*1. Stuftr^ofci, Lfftectn. A ftw+m*n

Wortp, Awm. Nwl rWTMW, BQUffM, LNHA!
Sin* MftsMI, ^Minqtftrfw H.nf* ${
Item. Tuntaldaa UVrtt. Hint. Uin
Pflwrcy. Hw ii HmJ E*m* t Rob#m,

Bangor . Gwradd John Trrom* t
BridgtfHl, NUOlMTWfM,

And the rest of you each wm a
copy of ftsnVe ofBrn^t^

W OfWCtMffllnOn . MTMH HMD
P ■niiiiMt: N^lmorion Mrtd. DA I

Gtl*y. W*it Yortuhir* Danwl Cast**.
MartKrougK WVUtiln. OR Ckwwaf
€ m *|b 8«y Ci»nfO. CfwM Co**m*

M»nc tw I #r araft vw C i I l*lfrt*
HT5 J IRA. V rtmm#n. Pmn**.

ifUddP. AhM#»r X#*T. Ptyrnoulh. Dfwon
I l^Mcemba MdtHoak

. Mart Fori** tun*
Richard Ormaon, Bury,
Line* O Pftrhitt-t. Nawlown. CaMltl* Ian
fedNn/ BiL.r>d»n U nHv U*tn»0i : A M
Robtnwfi. Mattiton* Kim, A 5**1#

WmMm* W#v cordon

THE GREAT TASWORD

ANDTAS-SPEU

COMPETITION

Not surprisingly (he Tasman
Comp attracted a tot of entries.
Perhaps that may explain why
ihv poor -ED has so much
trouble reading your hand
scrawled letters for OTS — you
must all be waiting to see if you
have won a wordprocessor. Ten
of you have bui somehow we
are going to have to sort out who
has which type of system, just so
that you get the prog t has
Perhaps Tasman might crack
that — I think they stand a better
chance.

PHn Oww i t l _
Cftdnwv hum Mil, S Vovfc«. Mm Curr*.
CO¥#Htf¥i wtM Fow^ta. tMQHifMtn , Emm ;,
PAHurrf r Slarvnof*. MkUf H*w«-d

Cumbru kan

&oA. G Vwlty. P M Ktti
■ EncWHon llHia Downturn
CwnhndoMlw* CWorton. LtiflMon

THE KEEP ON TftUCKIN
COMP

Welt at least this comp gave you
a chance to brush up on the old
CB talk Naturally we expected a
hefty response for two reasons.
Firstly, lots of you must have
started out your career as
Amstrad consumers when they
where churning out CB radios by
the ton P a nd then of co u r se it was
BIG AL at Amstrad who said that
the Am sir ad was a machine for
the truck driver — even ifir&
only a radio controlled one, Nick
Robinson from Leamington Spa
in Warwickshire gets Ihe truck
and the rest of you each win a
copy of the game

JC Allan ftippon Cla#o &ki Mmhm
B«Kh#P PnnrYpooJ. Gw*n1 Ericfli

Chfn.Cm.Hw*taHi,NoHUi &ti*ri
Cumhr an Gwwnt David J Cafeana.
Wylftanahawa. MmxIviIvt Mi** D

COMMO*ty. V^fHlOUQrlj DaMMl , ifff n EMIOA

flrirnwDith. Rath#fh«m David |vm>
tamwnrth Stuff*, ttntifivtn £wa«, M#.
Scotland . A Ft. u*. Shard End,
Bjrm.n^i^n Ftctwrt Qr#c* &■*!

F tnJtatoMoh. StffwmifcML S*ifloJte ; CoMn
Huafad. Nr Roahaalar K*m H#rk ItMC
L lantwrt Ma|w S filar* M L p*Kr y
TmhiUhi, Sofrwntt, fl MM im w r .
ruw ii#Vriy . rwin H 9CUIW. ■■• w n«pn.
LU«*#*t t*4m r S OI«tr ; Anofl AMT1X

Lomkm 0*yid fcdo» TMrribufv frrtrtcJ

UUIKA^ HlpCMSCl, LnWTWt DCQ^H r

Winirqloit. »C S#nd«0. Twpgmi
Co^fvwjll H S«rno.. Hyw Ttmtirik, Fmj4
ThofTV.St«v«n*B«. SGJIOf Un Willwn*
fprn^v Mm«nidf St*v«Pt Willi»mi

Mtddx Paul Wilki#m», OjMtvfWdl,
Offbyflw*. Jan#itha*i WHIwvhl, Sutton.

Sufra^i AS wrypv.TrHjrHir Cwffv'MMIi

HACKETT HACK COMP

Well lucky old Wayne
McHiMhart from South Shields
Tync & Wf?<ir gcjis to win the
smart modem donated by
Actrvtskwi You had better gel an
inierf ace sorted out so you can
start being a pest on the phone
For thtf twenty nine runners up,
you can still priCtiM your
hacking with a copy of the game

Lbm Arifhoffy r St F*fBtWp/**OCL GwynfpWi. N Vv
WAil S, P Aftift»n S^Jo*n K Of
VWghl. a#*«m, AiNad, Sumy ; Timiv

Eim*. L#nc*itiw. S4mon BtoofTMif,
Wofslw. M«nch««wr Jito^ Borkry.
CMvfir IllMd. £*KK. UH Brarwh,

Dm d ft»J*w rup„»k .ov^ iM

vodfci ■ bn Br«l», CHtivmi^ 0*1*^^
N.^f-l Biiflqiv $<rt|pn t Sunvy, OK CI*'*.
Cupsibr an. Gvmni!. P*yl Divifon.

'.*tw1h 4 N**t*iiift Ui>on Tyiw

Sftiun Dvnotson. iMrtton. L*nc#t'

'.iiLSMlflWUljIIC LVK4 M«rtir<

r. Himltey. W^*n. Oiucf* Ft»0i*ic
iHvIIoCImjc1'-L jQtfoiif*. Belgium, S990.
Tonm FrMi r Tranwwxivt S r Bn^dby

DmiWti : JS G«^dv, FiUft Park SlwHUd.
MAi* 0>nn« Milchjrrt, Sorrwy, Aihsn tiny
LiKwick/Shrtiiind, ScnUeno. W*h##iMih*,
Hitiogiie. V^rk* . V Hnvmru PiMn«r
Uidcfo; Rf K«**y <Vou Should H#w T r«d
Th» PSS Comp M. 0*tn»n M«* . RAF Br u *
NoftW 0»on, D*vu1 L*rri54*¥, F'nitnwv.
Bo*lDn, t anci. ScotT Lquri. KiAmivrhill
LMWUhirt. Sc«n#TK3. OKarivs M#ft,
LjnlltuQw, W Utthwrv C M#rr.rKt*l«.
Sandri*ie. M#pt». Aftrt*** N**P# P«#khor>,
Wora. FQ *4m1«fwiv. Itayteigti . Eui^i S
Odflli , WortritaL Sum, AAkdwl Ptimtf ..
y&^.Owi^Pyllw.Chartoo.Lowior*
Andrm ft^ctwdwn RMUdin, P«onh«Ai*

■•nMy Fltirton.MirtfnMir HtMll

^im. OiM^lii i; Jmkki Scotl
H od bf id»,SoutfiM>pton, H»r# fl 5.n<|h.

Sfm^i-. OowspfaMMw, Co Do**n. M kvi*nd.
ft SpfftCfrf , Amrthorp*. Donuittf , S -
Ap Trtwii, Sl*rptord, Lrnci , G^i ian W*H
C o f H Ofl ft HW, tdifttmrflh Sc^kmd Brmn
WMJflK N«w«Mrn. NwwMtit Tt Www.
PommoiJlh.Hinl* DJWnlM.SfcMj
line*. S R Win .am*, f w**
MtddlBMN; Ifcfi W.iLftmi formby.
MBnAVbriMt Bali WiHint Onrnkirt t mm*
K#fth Voung, Annan, EJumf pp**thw»,

STEVE DAVIS SNOOKER

I'm afraid that this comp has
gjvan me a imge of brum strain
The main grin was «a*y 5ya
Lawfrom Li tttebo rough m
Manchester has already had his
tickets. The nexl fivw wtnnens

CDS AUtra Systems

AM5TRA0

could chose between a video,
signed cue, signiKi boo% P a *T
shirt or sweat shirt Maxina
Cartar from Petof borough has
booked the book whMe the other
four wanted a signed cue aach
They are Paul Griffin,
Chippenham, Wilts, ACrrtchlay
Br^ckncilL Berks' BW#adon,
Kilmarnock KA3 1TX R
Kew-Moss, Wellingborough,
Northants

The rest of you btb awarded a
copy of the game . , .

WiM i*m*. Sum>rv hupr#v Mi R kiM MM Mi ii.
Trsmwi Ayti^.n KkI Wood. TliatdhafVL

MpWftunr JP Q#*^P" 5*iwn«tHi^
MfCTiiMM iMtrtf iljn. B* Mln|Wj BOMVnj

Ooneatlar S York* J*m» S^**5rfi-W
El«im#g« MarKh«l*f . Payl Martin
Ofamham. Lmwi. Mk#w#I Roo^a,

QlllJMPiM . W tiumw m N UkdgimJ

f D riv4*d» | SuiiMi Sandra S havH ,
Coulwlon Suff»y .HWmtwhum
WrrhprlH W IfOftA; Nad Snitfl Ornthan
lM) Oi Man Gw Piai m an Rouimvih.

BMfHOH r URM

The Comps mm ion was too
damned frightened to pick any
winners for the Frktey the 13th
comi nnth. but we've

locked him up in the broom
cupboa rd { in the darfch so we
shou Id get some result* by next
issue — othenwisa -

98 AMT1X March 1986

AW>Ti*i> tekTSjs

by Malcolm Harding

Welcome to a regular new feature in AMT1X !. a page
devoted to Amstrad user clubs and bulletin boards.
The aim is to enable the aforementioned to have
printed space to write about themselves, offer advice
and help to newly formed or planned organisations,
compfain about any rip — off s they may have
encountered, and generally sound off about at! and
sundry Want to have a jolly good moan or just see
your name in print? Look no further here's your
chance for fame (sorry you will have to seek your
fortune elsewhere),

AMTIX i wdnis to hear from User
Clubs the length and breadth of
the country, write and tell us
how, why and when you set up
the club, its aims, when and
where it meets, how many
members you have, if you have
any special events planned for
the comi ng yeef , if y oy pu bl i sh a
newsletter, how often etc By
now I'm sure you've got the
hang of it

Anyway it's time to launch ihts
highly readable page I don I you
dare mis* iO so here we ;
Manchester Amstrad Ui*f Chib
this is your life {with apologies
to a certain television
programme) Secretary, Steve
Stunner started the hell rolling in
March last year alter readfnpa
magazine clipping which said
the Best way Id leam computing
was to start a user club. The first
step was to try and form a
committee and to this end
publicity was needed. This was

achieved by such means as
posters and adverts and; of
course, word of mouth, As Steve
i$ a bus driver he spread the
word while driving around the
streets of Manchester 1 The
publicity had some success and
the inaugural meeting of the
MAUC was he*d on March 10.
Fifteen people were invited and
seven tu med u p As these were
obviously the keenest people it
was decided they would form
the core of a committee. The
club's annual general meeting
took place On February 24 and i!
is intended io hold the meeting
on the same date every year

Ashed a bout the d u h*s a i ms
Steve said they wanted to help
the beginner in the wprFd of
computing. The dub also
provided a venue where people
could get together and sort out
p rob I ems end generally
exchange ideas and views The
club also produced its own

newsletter, intended to organise
an annual fair, and teach
i :< imputing at all i*?vels to a
programming capacity. But by
far the most important aim was
to meet the people who used
computers on a daily basis.

MAUC members are at
present busy planning their
second computer fair which is
being held at St Mary's Hall.
Levenshulme, at a date to be
announced. Plans have not been
finalised yet but are well on their
way P and the club hope dealers
will be interested in taking a
stand,

The club meets on Monday
nights at Openshaw Technical
Collie, from 7 pm to 9 pm and
fees are SOp per meeting. The
college is easy to find from Che
city centre Follow the signs to
Openshaw a king Ashton Old
Road After passing the ju net ion
with Grey Mare Lane travel
about 200 yards then take the
right turn Go into the college
through the main doors and find
room G25 Courses being run for
members this year are Machrne
Code for the beginner, which i$
taught by Jan Podlaski, a
computer teacher at Openshaw
College and also a BASIC from
the START course which is
taught through the club's
monthly newsletter by Father
Peter Kitchen. An electronics
course is also pranned for ihe

summer, again taughT by Mr
Podlashi. which will involve the
building of such things as RAM

boards*

At the last count there were 53
newsletter members and 36
members who attend the
Monday ni^ht meetings The
newsletter t« sent to memtwfS
worldwide with rh^ UK
membership fee bemg fc'S
annually and the overseas fee
£7.50 Cheque*/mon«Y order*
should be made payable to SJ
Stanner, Subjects covered <n the
newsletter include reviews of
hardware, members letters
problems etc* general Amstrad
news, computer dictionary,
monthly peelt and pole
routines, adverting items txrtti
for sate and wanted. BASIC from
ihe START course (chi» m
copyrighted*, news from
abroacT, and compel n tons where
software can be won.

Anyone wanting to know
more about the club can contact
Steve by writing to him at 21
Catling Avenue. Longstghc.
Manchester M 12 SSX ur ringing
him on 061—224—4700
evenings only

That's ihe lovudown on the
Manchester Amstrad User Club
H you would like your user ctub
featured in the May issue of
AM TJX J write io us now and (ell
us everything about your
organisation

Wnle to AMTIX » USER CLUB MEWS,

1 2 KING STREET.LUDLOW. SHROPSHIRE SY8 1DB

AMTIX March 1986 99

Lest month the AMTtX f teem mede up their own Top 20 Chert. This
month tf r $ vow turn. Beioware the 26 best games et (he moment es
voted by AM TfX f motors. Th* figures mpawn (bests are iesr month *s
position.

1(3) Yie Ar Kung Fu Imagine

8.528B20 Nick Siones. Harrogate

2(7) Sorcery Plus Virgin

1 36, 52 5 Erie Barwell, Don easier

3 ( 9} Bruce Lee US Gold

76000 Altxandtit f f*pp, Glasgow

4 (17) 3D Grand Prix Amsoft

8,33Q Scott WfllMXi, Dumbarton

TOP TWENTY F

9600 John Sands Lakesrer

5 (—) Elite Firebird

'Elite 4 Kiygia Schmidt. Manchesler

6 ( 4) Spy vs Spy Beyond

7 ( — ) DT's Supertest Ocean

8 (19) Way of the Exploding Fist Melbourne |

31. 400 Jonathan Hill. Bradford

9 (12) Mars port Gargoyle Games

10 ( — ) Starion Melbourne House

32,9! \ Sttan Brady, Elthem

12 ( — ) Lords of Midnight Beyond

14 (11) Red Moon Level 9

16 ( — ) Terrormolinos Melbourne House

Cofupieted M Barrel, Evesham

18 ( 5) TLL Vortex
19 ( 2) Finders Keepers Mastertronic

20 ( — ) Graphic Adventure Creato

: QR MARCH

ie House

11 (16) Alien 8 Ultimate
13 (— ) Defend or Die Alligata

55,900 Christopher Wmstanley . Preston

15 (13) Cauldron Palace

17 {—) Nightshade Ultimate

tor Incentive

HOW TO VOTE AND OTHER
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

Thanks to everyone who voted for (tits first ever AMT1X 1 Reader*
Chart - we don X rmnd that yot* di&sgreeif with some of our choices
fast mon(fj because thst '$ whet democracy *s ail stout — dts&gre+
mg continually f In order for the Chart to be as representative as
possible, it's important that 0$ many of you as possible vote every
month, so keep those forms comtng tn?

Cortgr&tuteifons go to Melbourne House as their name appears
more times than anyone else's (three hmes to be exact) and to
Imagine for hi it trig the number one spot wrth YteArkung ft*. Nice,
too, to see incentive's GAC in at the number 20 sloi. indicating that
not everyone out there is a puns! alien tapper r

The first of the rngh scores have gone in, but some people aren't
filling that pari of the form in so there are gaps (and how do you get a
high score on (MCftnyway?) — come on folks, nM in all the derail
Anyway, congratulations to everyone who got their scores publish-
ed — keep them coming in as well.

As promised lest issue, there are threw winners M you can call
being the first to be pulled out of the bag "winning" |. They are, Scott
Watson Jonathan Hill and Steven Parkinson Three of Aggie's CIO
vouchers are on their way Incident ally, The form has been altered
th is month so you ca n I et us k now what t it le you would I ike i t you win
— this Should make processing things a lot faster The things we do
to please - .

Voting is simple enough. Just fill in the form (ALL of itl) and list
your five most favourite games in descending order with the best at
number one. If you don't want to cut up the mag, you can emulate
the form on a postcard (preferably I or the back of a sealed envelope,
but don't forget to write in ill the details needed I

JUVmXt READERS TOP TWENTY CHART
VOTING FORM

ftl&iu win* \n CAPS m *n #y**1r#u-i f r*e m*fiiw •

MrBI'lB' +1 » i 1 a r (■ i i t »*4 1 1 ■ t ■ I * i I ft 1 I ■ - i ■■ ■ i ■ ■■ II r ■

Address ....

in i mi 1 1 1

■ i ■ * m m -a m i

Postcode

The World's five hippesl games in order of preference ere
TITLE

(►■•b-»++*.* + ii

J - ■ - + i 1 r i

From one of the five games above select one and g+ve us your
high score:

TITLE

. .....».._. 1

ACHIEVEMENT

My machine is a 464 .'664, 61 28/8256 (delete as applicable, H I
em a winner the game I would like If:

Send your coupon to:

f. m + - .

AMTIX! TOP TWENTY, PO BOX 10, LU0L0W.
SHROPSHIRE, SY8 10B

I m

"'"iir »'

ran

jiii^

III! I]

■ * ■* ~ ^^

__J ^*,.

- ■

IjP

' /

«•- *

.*^r*>

JCJ^

Burn tread on the itreeli !

SPfCnHM4SK

AMITOAD

■I

•

•*i\i 1 1

I Ocean Software <s available from selected bfarehesof
WOOUKM77N .WHSMIM1. ^
rjWl" ■.!,■!■ LASKTfS Rumbelowi C0W0tfT
Spectnjm Shops and all good software dealers.

Ocean Software

Ocean House 6 Central Street

Manchester M2$NS

UP OiTf:

rhifopnid Md opttvt tin hi ufttfurtod wortO flit
ran cJM Cm* wm data*** to ttriftp »nm

□ortiputif tnd nfui sJTBiltad iflto fenstonot n
Areata » mh , fw wis i bui/fi fetfHid But hi was
iXM Ith and ftQfTbng Hi vtt mt# Hly Iwpt

TERMINAL MANi

TVIfc TALL OWE, ARE ID
&E &PBR&P - VJL&RRRE HAS
P USE FOR Vt>U / ^OU WLL
0TT&ND THE PURiFl^fffiQN Of
THE. OTHER Din^PfcKb tiT

AMTIX March 1986 103

STORY BY KELVIN GOSNELL

104 AMTIX March 1986

AMTIX March 1906 105

Next: The Thing that wouldn't die.

106 AMTIX March 1986

There's never been a better reason
for looking forward to Winter !

touve
cjipturrd me
1 in Summer
r GameV M And
Summer Ginwi ll Tl
raw n i on to ine Winter
Gamut And wnat anir i uccft -
bie letting - a < omplriefy n^^lknk
r wond e rland featuring u«
I eventi You can com
peteagainft your friendi or the computer
Ftnt choose the country you wiinf id
fppfpwni Then if i pranrce, training and
teaming a winning strategy tor each event.
Mow ihe Opening Ceremony and the < ompei p
Eiori b^gjni u/niypu be the one who tabes the
ijuki jrt the Award* Ceremony?

fhe cjurit tor the gold continues And Hi all
hen* - line strategy the challenge, the competition,
che art and pageantry of winter Gameit
»> si j Winter Events: Bobsled, Sfc« Jump Fiqurc
Skating. Free Style Slutting,, Hot Dog Aeriaii and
ehe Biathlon
p> Opening. Closing and Awards Ceremonies

complitr with National Anthems
r Compel? Againrt the Computer or Your Frlendi and

Family
»■ Unique Joystick Control - PHeq ul ret Timing and Skill
* f>ne to Eight Playeri

W~JM

■V&S

.*.

©ATTLI

LAlIlSia the space simulation

th^tw^s selected Ijfor me
Nation^JcC^puren Games

4,11 U iJp 5 The ^t^m^/|trej

ampionship

nell,Berk$Mfc034

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